A Very Special Flavour
by markab
Summary: (Based on the Dracula story of the 2020 BBC series) A series of stories featuing Dracula through the ages. Some will be one shots others may be linked or continue from time to time. SECOND STORY UP.
1. Guardian of the night

SOMEWHERE IN GRAZ, STYRIA, 1890

Dracula holds me close. Dracula consumes me when I sleep. He has done for the last six months when I turned 21, like I am ripened, and was ready to pick.

The metallic taste of his lips. The colour of cherries. I lick at them. I savour the taste, because it was a taste I savoured every night.

Mother told me that I was a dreamer. That I should find some rich influential man that I could settle down and make a life with.

But why? Why must I, when I can taste Dracula...my night-time guardian, the one whose always there for me at the deadest of hours of those long nights.

Father says nothing. He just sits in that stuffy old chair in the study, reading musty old volumes under a reading lamp.

Always the same, him. Wearing black velvet jackets and neck ties that were only a hairs breath of choking him.

Dracula likes to choke me. Especially when I'm in the mood to taste him.

I like to stare out on sunny days in my silken night dress just waiting for the sun to go down. So that when sunset finally arrived, I can lie back in the sheets of my bed and wait for him.

I usually like to wear my hair loose and hung down one side, so the left side of my slender neck is in full view, because I know he likes me like that.

Dracula keeps me young and fresh.

But tonight feels different. It had felt different all day. Not once, but twice did I hear carriages pull up outside of the house, and strange men I have never seen before keep my father in meetings in the parlor.

Keeping my father from his reading.

The maids were in and out, serving up fine wine and cheese for fathers guests whoever they were.

I sat on the top step, and watched as the men left and were back again a few hours later. The Grandfather clock in the hallway chimed 2pm when they first came, and 5pm on their final visit.

I didn't want this to bother me, but it did...it felt like they were talking about me.

Maybe father was arranging for my marriage. Maybe these gentlemen were forced suitors for my hand.

I longed for night. I longed for Dracula to take me...if I marry, then I'll lose him forever...Dracula will find someone else to feed on, another delious flavour to satisfy his cravenings.

Someone else would feel his cold breath on theirs. Someone else would taste him. The metallic taste that flowed through me.

That would never happen. I wouldn't allow that to happen. Why should I?

At last the sun had long disappeared, and I stayed in my room like I always do, except on a Sunday when I would go for a walk with Mother in the park.

That's when I had to get dressed up. All frills and velvet and ribbons and uncomfortable satire...I hated it and when I got back to my room after, I rid them as quickly as I could get out of them.

Tonight I sat on my bed. Tonight the cool wind came in through my open french doors. The lace curtain lapped in the gentle breeze.

I smiled to myself. I no longer had a reflection. The mirror on the dresser was useless, but that was a price to pay for the goodness that was him. Dracula coming in through the doors and letting me suck and lick at the sweet serum that was his.

Dracula. The man of my dreams...a god like idol who holds me close and rests his mouth to my sweet slender neck and whispers all what I ever dreamed of. Tall...dark...handsome... A most beautiful man who commands a presence.

I close my eyes and I lie down to let him feed on me and abuse me to his hearts content.

But tonight is different. There was voices downstairs. A group of voices. Did father have visitors so late?

I go to the window and see nothing but the gas lamps. There was no traffic, there was no body about, just a full fat shiny moon that hung up above, giving the rooftops sharp shadows that lapped down to the narrow cobbled streets below.

There was a knock on the door. NOBODY ever came to my room at this hour...not like this.

I approached the door and grasped the brass knob, turned the key, and opened it on ajar.

A nun was standing there. Dressed head to foot in her religious robes and habit.

She smiled warmly at me.

"please...I must enter your room...I have your father's kind permission...there is a ritual I need to carry out, my dear"

Ritual? What kind of ritual? I never replied to her, I just stared at the nun.

"Please ...it has been going on for too long now...it's time you were made free of his devilish desires"

I look down to the silver cross in her tight grasp. It was plain and simple.

I shake my head and was about to close the door, when the nun put her black shiney boot to it.

"I have to DO THIS...If this carries on, then your father has no choice but to send you away..."

I don't know why, but I opened the door and let the nun inside my bedroom.

I close the door and turn around and watch as she paces about, looking over my room. My dresser, my wardrobe, my oil lamp.

The soft glow making our faces form shadows on the walls.

I look towards the window...there was no way Dracula was going to come tonight...not with a stranger in the room.

The nun went to the window and closed it gently. Then turned and smiled at me.

"For months you have endured this...but I can see that the root of the problem is too deep...gone much too far as I feared..."

She was looking to the mirror on my dresser. At both of us...but there was only her...but I knew that anyway.

My heart begins to race. I start to grow concerned and unsettled, "Are you going to force him away? Are you going to take me away from him..?"

There was a trembling of fear in my very own voice.

"Child...", and she came and took my hand into hers and gave me a warm smile that reminded me of my old school governess.

"...if I was to force him away...then it is likely that you will fall foul to his dark desires"

I stare at her...at first I am lost in that gracious smile. I am confused. I am caught off guard.

"How long has his unearthly presence come to you, child? You can tell me...I have dealt with many others like yourself... that...have fallen victim to his unnatural existence"

I look to the window.

"He comes to you every night...he makes you want him even more...he feeds on you...not just your blood...but he wants your soul, too"

I swallow and sit on the bed, I start to twirl my finger through my hair that hung on my shoulder.

I smile, "He won't come...he won't come when you are here"

The nun sat beside me and took my hand, "I know...but I am here not to confront him...but to stop him from destroying your soul further"

I smiled at her, "but, like you just informed me...it is too late for me...I have no soul...I have no reflection in the mirror...as you can see there is no me"

The nun got up and made for the window. She held up the silver cross and charted something I couldn't understand from the Bible...was it Latin?

The energy built up from within me. From within me where my soul should have been, maybe.

I stood up like I wasn't in control anymore...I looked at the nun. She had her back to me, chanting.

And then he was there. In the window. He came in and stood tall against the nun. She stopped chanting and looked up to him. Dracula tilted his head and smiled at her like he was amused by her presence in the room. He then looked at him and gestured his hand towards me.

"Take her...the time has come for you to meet your destiny"

I Move towards her like my feet were not on the floor. My hands are out ahead of me...I cannot help it, but I was clawing at her face...she was helpless because I had a great strength within me I never thought that I had.

Dracula was laughing.

The nun was on the floor. Blood was trickling from the corner of her mouth. I knee down and brushed my hand over her face to close the eyes that stared out in horror.

Then my fingers dabbed the warm blood and they were to my lips...tasting the metallic essence.

It tasted good...it tasted like...his. My guardian of the night...I looked up to Dracula and he smiled down at me and extended his hand, I took it, his sharp nails digging into my palm, and I rose to my feet.

He leans in to me and he whispers in my ear, "Go my bride...go and be free like you so wish to be"

And it was from that time...Dracula never came to me again...because from that moment on, I didn't exist no more in the flesh .

The newspapers told all about my mysterious disappearance of what was once myself. The nun it seemed survived and I heard last seen boarding a train to the east.

That's where Dracula was. She was chasing him. Chased him from the beginning.

I see nothing of the daytime...just the night time when I can see above the roof tops and see into windows at beautiful young men going to bed.

There is a beautiful young man I am visiting now. I have come to him for a couple of nights. He is young, maybe 20 or 21, not quite fully mature.

But he is ripe and he wants me like I want him...he tastes me...he lets me abuse him...and he yearns for me to come to him every night.

I am a bride of Dracula. I will carry on his work. I understand that one day, he will rule the world. The world needs to be afraid, because his power is growing and when the time is right...he will make his move at domination.

How I know all this I do not know...it is like I am thinking what he is thinking...And I know that I will be there standing with him, at his side.

END


	2. Oh How We Danced

ON THE RUSSIAN SHIP DEMETER 1897

She was old now. Over 60. Once her beauty was radiant. The suitors would do anything for her hand in marriage, and oh, didn't she love the attention.

Her hair is now grey. But once, it was black and glossy, a very smooth sheen.

Now, her skin is wrinkled with age, but once it was clear and smooth and was ever so soft and silky.

She was beautiful. And it was all such a long time ago.

Her name is Valeria. And she is the Grand Duchess of Bavaria, a state in Germany. And she was sat alone at the dining table in the eating gallery of the ship. She studied the menu. Her eye sight wasn't like it used to be. The ship creaked. The other guests in the gallery chatted over fine wine and pre-ordered food, that looked ever so delicious to eat.

She sighed. What would she order. There was so many choices. Until a shadow made the flame of her oil lamp flicker on the table.

She looked up to see the tall man looked down at her. He smiled and waved his hand towards the menu she was holding.

"I think it's safe to have the fish", he said.

Valeria looked up from the menu and almost laughed at being interrupted, "I beg your pardon?"

"We are surrounded by water, one must hope that the fish is fresh", said the gentleman speaking excellent German, her native language.

Impressed by that, Valeria sighed at the menu, "I'm afraid that I am very careful of what I eat"

The gentleman tilted his head somewhat in the glow of the gas lights, he really was very smartly attired. One might say, immaculate, "Me too...may I join you?"

She was quite taken aback by his forwardness. But there was something about his dark eyes, that smile, that handsome face, the hint of one might see as cheeky in the tone of voice, it was like she had...,"But we haven't been introduced..and yet you do seem a little familiar"

He parted his hands, "Oh dear lady, I promise to be as familiar as you like"

She felt safe with him. He was familiar, but she just couldn't place him, of where she might have acquainted him in her long past, "I am the Grand Duchess Valeria, of Bavaria..."

The man came forward and took hold of her outstretched hand, she was wearing thin silky gloves studded with sparkling jewels, "and I am count Dracula", and he kissed her hand.

"Oh I must ask, have we been acquainted before? I feel like that I know you"

Dracula sat down opposite her, and raised his eye brows accompanied with a half smirk, "It has been said, may I ask why you are travelling to England?"

Valeria didn't seem to notice how he changed the topic of conversation with her, "I have been invited"

Dracula took the liberty to pour her some wine, his face was breathtaking in the soft glow of the gaslight, "Oh?"

She took the glass and put it to her lips, "I am connected by birth to the ruling house, but I am not in favour, because a gentleman in England wishes to write my story"

Dracula watched her closely. Valeria looked up at him and blushed, and almost immediately was ashamed, after all she was 63 years old...no 64, it was her birthday.

"It's your birthday and you spent it in a ship cast for England?", said the count sitting back in his chair.

Valeria was taken unawares. She frowned at him, "Yes...but how could you possibly know that?"

Dracula just hinted a smile and gazed at her with his dark eyes. The back ground noise of chatter in the ships gallery seemed to go hazy, like it was lost in the distance.

"Yes, it is my birthday, and yes how sad for the occasion I have to spent it travelling, not the best of birthdays", she seemed to have a faraway gaze lost in thought somewhere.

Dracula leaned forward, "What was your best birthday?"

She looked at him in question.

"Go on...humour me", coaxed the handsome Count.

Valeria looked thoughtful for a few minutes, like she was quietly remembering something long ago, she finally broke the silence, "Yes I do have a favourite...and it was such a long time ago. For my 18th birthday I was given a great treat...you're never guess what it was...oh go on have a guess"

Dracula shrugged, I don't know..."

Valeria was amused by him now and waved her hand, "Oh go on guess...it's your turn to humour me"

Dracula shrugged, "a jeweled tiara? pony?..."

Valeria shook hear head like she was back there 40 years ago, she spoke very quietly and wanted it to end in the anticipation of what it had been, "My present was wrapped in tissue paper...pink tissue paper, wrapped very tightly and I ripped at it and I at last...saw what it was..."

"A pineapple...", said Dracula looking straight at her, "...a pineapple,more incline to the worlds warmer climes suddenly there in front of you...and in the depths of a very cold winter, how that must have felt like magic to you"

If it hadn't dawned on her before, it had finally dawned on her now...but it was impossible...it couldn't him, Could it? She swallowed down and for a moment she had to find her voice, "It can't be...it's... you? "

Dracula broke into a smile, "of COURSE it's me...", he was remembering too, "...oh Valeria, how we danced"

There was flash of a memory that was so far far away, "Yes...that was the night my mother disappeared"

"yes", Dracula confirmed

Valeria still couldn't believe this was happening as he reached out over the table and took her hand,

"Shall we dance again?"

FORT VICTORIA, OLD VICTORIA PROVENCE, AUSTRIA: 1855

It was a time of joy. It was a time for celebration and it was an end of an era. The walls of the fort are dark and crumbling. Much like the end of things to come. The hall ways are draugthty and the candles flicker in the brass brackets and holders.

The place is cold. It's dark recesses hiding all sorts of secrets of times long gone by. There are wonderful weaves of tapestries on the stone block walls. And there are also paintings of long and dead rulers of the British provence. Their long dead eyes looking out and moving in the shadows, all like it seemed.

Valeria saw all this from her bedroom. She is staying there with her family because they are long acquainted with the Captain. The captain of the British army that will soon leave this very fort and go home, back to England.

Valeria sat at the dresser. She looked into the mirror. She was beautiful, so so beautiful. She lifted her long curly hair upward to view her long slender neck. The pulse beating gently beneath her soft white skin.

Then Mama came into the chamber and smiled at her. She had her hands together and was proud. Today, her daughter had indeed flowered into a beautiful lady. And a lady most desired and sort after too.

"You have come of age... such a special time"

Valeria turned from the dresser, "Oh Mama...it is most excellent that the Captain has allowed us to celebrate my birthday in this wonderful fortress"

Her Mama glided over in her wide ballroom gown, that was littered with a thousand sparkles in the candle light, and took her daughters hand to help her stand, "Your Papa and the Captain have been long standing friends...now the Captain is heading back to England, it will be the last time he will see him"

The wind whipped up outside and there was an awful draught from the white frost outside the fort. And in the forested mountainside there was the howling of wolves.

Her Mama reached out and brushed her face gently, "we have a most wonderful surprise for you"

Valeria was excited and beamed a smile, there had been such secrecy over her present this year and now it was time for the big reveal, "what...what is it?"

Mama chuckled, "Why don't you guess"

"Oh Mama, I couldn't possibly..."

"try..."

"I do not know...I cannot think...oh...", she suddenly looked up, "...a jeweled Tiara?"

"No"

"A pony? How I've always wanted one"

Mama laughed and clapped her hands, "Oh you are so cold...colder than the frost outside these walls"

"Oh Mama, I am so excited I am fit to burst"

Mama came forward and turned her daughter around, then gently put a blindfold on her, "Just until we get downstairs...this will build to the effect..."

"Oh I cannot wait..."

THE BALLROOM DOWNSTAIRS

One of the officers that had been stationed at the fort was with the Captain. They helped themselves to the brass bowl of punch. With the silver ladle, the officer poured some of the beverage into his goblet.

The Officer, and indeed his Captain and the other soldiers present, were all very smartly dressed up in their military red dress suits. Medals sparkling in the candle light. Taking a sip of the fruity punch, the officer first noticed the group of nuns mingling with the guests.

"I didn't think this was an occasion for nuns?"

The Captain stroked his huge white moustache and chuckled, "I thought that myself, but who are we to inquire...they have been most helpful to us for their charity work, and let us use their convent as a place for the injured after our skirmish in the holy land"

"Indeed...I hope they didn't walk here, the wolves that roam about this region are pretty vicious..."

The Captain chuckled again, "They are used to that, the wolves up near the convent are the biggest I've ever seen"

The officer shrugged as he watched the violinist play, "Coming to celebrate a girls 18th birthday doesn't seem their style, but I'm sure they have their reasons"

"Indeed"

They both looked on as a semi-circle of well dressed guests formed in the gothic ballroom of the fort. And then a group of servants with their satin and velvet attire and white wigs came in with a small cart with the most regal of colours. There was something wrapped in pink tissue paper. A centre piece.

The captain raised his eyebrows, "Valeria's father has told me they surprise their daughter every year with something extraordinary , I wonder what it will be this year?"

The officer looked up to the grand staircase that dominated the room, "there...there she is...she is of beauty...I have always said"

The Captain looked at him, James was a very strong broad shouldered individual. A fine masculine suitor for such fair and beautiful creature that was Valeria.

Valeria came from German royalty. James had connections to the aristocracy of Middle England...who not a finer candidate for the girls hand. Maybe he would put in a good word to the Grand Duke if the situation rose up.

On the parapet of the stairs, Valeria stood blind-folded. And taking her Mothers hand, she was lead down the stone steps very slowly, her splendidly made crystal coloured dancing shoes gently lowering to each small step.

As Mama gently removed the blindfold, Valeria looked down to the rush of guests. They were all looking up to her. They were smiling and had expressions that revealed they so wished they were she.

The candle light made the stone church like ball room soft. There was a roaring fire in the ornate hearth and a line of violinists played something very gentle for the occasion.

But Valeria's eyes were not on all of that. They were focused on the centre-piece. Her birthday surprise.

She and her Mother approached it as the music stopped, and there was an air of anticipation. Valeria marveled at the centre piece in the cart. It was surrounded by fruit. Fruit? Was that a clue of what this thing wrapped in tissue paper was?

She looked to Mama who now stood with Papa. Grand Duke and Duchess of Bavaria.

"May I?"

The Grand Duke nodded, "This is your birthday, my dear girl"

Valeria didn't waste another minute. She ripped at the pink tissue paper and revealed something to her that was so very mythical.

"It...it cannot be? Is it real? But how...?"

Valeria hesitated as she placed her fingers to the prickly shell of the exotic fruit.

"A pineapple...", she whispered in awe, how far had it come to get here and still look so healthy and fresh, like the day it was first picked.

Various guests were around her now, all trying to get a good look at the strange alien fruit.

"Just wait to you taste it", said Mama.

Valeria's eyes were transfixed to it, "Oh yes...I wonder what it tastes like?"

"Some bites bitter and some bites sweet I have heard"

Valeria didn't recognise the voice. She looked up to see a tall dark and well dressed man in a dress suit standing beside her. He wasn't there before.

She realised her was awaiting some response from her by the look on his very dark alluring eyes.

"Oh?"

The man placed his hand onto his chest and apologised, "Oh do forgive me, I should have introduced myself before making comment...I am the Count"

Valeria was lost in those eyes, "Count...of where?"

"Of many places"

Valeria tore her eyes away and focused back to the pineapple, "Isn't it marvelous"

The count looked at the fruit and shook his head in agreement, "Yes...it's quite exquisite, isn't it? One must assume that if you penetrate the hard shell, it reveals itself to be soft...and juicy", his tongue came to the corner of his mouth and he looked at the delicate beating little pulse of her neck.

"It sounds positively delicious", Valeria cooed.

"Yes..."

Valeria looked at him and he smiled, "It's my birthday you know"

The count tilted his head and looked surprised, "Is it really? How very good for you...and I know it is rather rude to ask a lady of such beauty for her age...but I will"

Valeria clutched her hands together, "Ohhhh have a guess..."

The count raised his eyebrows at her, "Oh how you jest"

Valeria moved forward, "go on...please...have a guess"

The count made himself look like he was thinking and then said, "18"

Valeria was disappointed that he got it right in one guess, "Ohhh you rotter...somebody must have told you"

The Count held her eyes, "Oh I very much doubt that...you'd have to be invited to the occasion to know that"

"And what of you? How old are you?"

"Probably as old as these crumbling walls...and if not them, certainly the portraits of those on them"

She swallowed down, held by his dark eyes, then the violins started to play, he reached and held out his hand to her, "Would you care to dance?"

Valeria broke into the most biggest of smiles and took his cool hand, "Oh yes, how I love to dance"

The count led her away from the cart as the guests parted for them. The count took the lead and they elegantly graced the flagstones.

The group of nuns were watching, the lead one glanced at one of her order, and then moved to the side of the Grand Duchess in all her regal glory.

"Your daughter dances very well"

The Duchess looked at the nun, "and how does a nun know of dancing? Oh forgive me, that was very rude of me"

The nun didn't look at her, "I learned when was a little girl...when he danced with me"

The Duchess didn't take much notice at first, but then it dawned on her, "but you look...if I am not being too offensive..."

"I am old... 70 would you know...", she looked to the two dancing, "He danced with me when I was 13"

"But...", the Grand Duchess couldn't quite put her finger on it, "...who is he? I don't remember inviting him"

"Count Dracula", the nun said.

The name meant nothing to the Grand Duchess, but the nun wasn't finished, "...be warned...don't let your daughters heart run cold"

"What? I don't understand...who are you? Tell me?"

The nun looked at her and smiled, "I am Sister Mary...alarmed you should be. But walls have ears, and some have hearing like bats in here"

Valeria was oblivious to her mothers conversation with the nun. She was lost in the swift moves of the dance. The gentle violin music was faded in the background. Everything was hazy and soft in the flickered candles around them.

"Oh Count...you are such a good dancer...you really glide me across the floor...it feels like I am floating"

Dracula smiled and then placed a supportive hand at the base of her back, and leaned over her, he hair hanging loose to the flagstones, his eyes holding hers and then he looked at the soft alluring pulse on her neck. He could taste her now. He could smell the flavour that was her.

But a hand rested on the counts shoulder and he straightened up.

"By joe...If you awfully don't mind, I would like to dance with her too"

It was Officer James. Valeria straightened up and gave him a sweet smile, "Officer..."

"May I?"

Dracula stood back and nodded as James began to move Valeria into a dance of his own. Dracula looking somewhat put out moved to the wall and watched them with dark eyes that were hungry.

The Grand Duchess moved to his side, "Forgive me...but I think you should leave"

Dracula's initial expression was irritated, but he forced a smile on as he looked at her with a slight bow, "Grand Duchess...?"

"You are not welcome here..."

Dracula looked up to see Sister Mary, "Oh I see..."

Dracula moved towards the nun and towered over her, he looked down to her with terribly darkened eyes, "How you never leave my side...you and your little convent...one day...I will destroy you...", he broke into a smile as he backed away, "...one day"

The palm of Sister Mary's hand was bleeding from where she had crushed the silver cross she clutched hold of in her vice tight grasp.

Of course he could smell it.

Dracula went over and took the hand of the Grand Duchess, "please...show me to a place where I can make a generous donation to Sister Mary's convent"

"And then you and your dark soul will leave?"

Dracula moved to her ear, "You have my word"

Valeria bowed her head to James as the music stopped. She looked around her. The count was nowhere in sight nor was her Mama. She approached her father, the Grand Duke, "Papa...have you seen Mama?"

"She was just here...I cannot remember when I last saw her"

She went to the base of the grand staircase of the fort and leaned on the post. A suit of shiny silver armour was standing over here.

And then she saw the Nun...

"Sister? Have you seen my Mother? The Grand Duchess...I think I saw you speaking to her, didn't I...", she held her forehead, "...It is all such a haze"

The Nun looked about her with concern growing in her eyes. She left Valeria bewildered and gathered up her order of nuns, "quickly now...he is going...he is going"

OUTSIDE THE FORT

The order of nuns lead by Sister Mary hurried out the great double doors on to the harsh frost at their feet. The black carriage was parked in front of them. Two dark stallions were ready to thrust forward reigned in by some unknown driver. Hot air wafted from their neying snouts in the sheer icy blast.

Dracula leaned his head out of the carriage window, "Do I not get a night off? Do you have to follow me everywhere I go? How I tire of you"

Sister Mary came forward with her cross held out, but as Dracula's eyes moved to the left, a pack of hungry wolves came out of the dark shadows, and as he moved his eyes to the right the same happened again.

Dracula looked amused at the nuns, "they are hungry you know...till we meet again", and with that the carriage was off and rolling down the hill to the mountain road backed by thick moonlit forests.

Sister Mary backed away as did the other nuns. The wolves stared at them with shiny eyes before retreating to the shadows and disappeared into the forests.

It was then Sister Mary turned her head towards the door and saw Valeria standing there with a sweet smile.

She realised, it wasn't the nun he had been talking to.

BACK TO THE RUSSIAN SHIP DEMETER IN 1897

The old Valeria bowed her head as she and Dracula finished dancing. There was quite an applaud from the other diners in the ships gallery.

"You are how I remember", she said.

Dracula kissed her gloved hand, "and you..."

She felt tired and drained and breathed out, "I tire so...I am not as young as I used to be...I had such energy back then"

Dracula moved his elbow, "please take my arm...I'll see you back to your room"

Valeria took his arm and they both left the ships gallery and were now out on deck. The air was cool and there was a gentle breeze. The moon was bright and it was beautiful.

"I so love the moon"

Dracula looked up at it too and smiled, "yes...I do too"

They reached her cabin and she turned, "thank you Count...would you like a night cap before you go"

Dracula breathed in the moonlight with a glint in his eye, "ohhhh is that an offer...?"

"It is"

They entered the small cabin and Dracula closed the door and removed his cloak. Valeria poured herself a brandy from the crystal decanter into tumbler, she looked up, "Is it worth offering you a drink I wonder..."

Dracula watched her.

"You didn't drink at dinner...do you not drink at all?"

Dracula watched as she came forward, he parted his hands, "Not brandy I don't"

"Or wine is seems"

She sipped her brandy and it warmed her inside. She looked at him, "It has been so long...because now I truly do remember...till we meet again"

Dracula smiled at her, "till we meet again"

She sighed, "how I have aged since then"

Dracula stepped forward, took the tumbler from her grasp and placed it down onto the side. The creaking of the ship was all she could hear.

She looked at with those eyes she could remember.

"Look at the mirror", he said.

Valeria breathed out a sad chuckle, "oh, I'm too old to look at"

Dracula stared at her close, "turn your head...and take a look"

Valeria swallowed and did so...she gasped, she was there in the full length mirror 64 years of age and it showed. But beside her was an old man with white hair...ancient even.

She snapped her neck round to face him...and saw he was still young. He smirked slightly and placed a finger to his lips, "Shhhhhhhh...I'm old too"

"I don't want to be old"

"Then look again"

She did and she saw that his youthful image was back in the mirror and so was she...she was 18 again. Her eyes sparkled and she gazed longing at the mirror, "I was so beautiful"

"You were", he whispered.

"They all wanted me"

"So did I"

She looked at him with eyes that were now a little afraid, "Who...who are you"

Dracula took her hand and said, "Shall we dance one more time..."

They danced and Valeria looked into the mirror. She was young. They danced like they did when she was 18. She stared at the image, his mouth so close to the pulse of her neck, she turned and saw those sharp teeth of a beast...and an sound so unearthly before the stabbing pain in her neck stopped and she closed her eyes as he feed.

AFTER

Dracula sat on the floor looking at her. She was peaceful lying on the floor of the cabin. He wiped the corner of his mouth of blood with his white handkerchief and then stood up and straightened his waist coat, he grabbed his cloak from the side and looked down at her,

"What a fine vintage you were...so worth the wait...after all these years...", he stepped over her and fastened his cloak chain, "...I wonder if your mother tasted the same? But I fed her to the wolves...oh how they tore her apart...", he was amused at the memory.

He looked down at her, "I must be going sentimental in my old age...but I will let you sleep beautiful lady..."

He then opened the cabin door...took one final look at her saying, "Ohhhhhh Valeria how we danced"

And then he closed the door behind him.

END


	3. Immortal vows - part one

Foreword: This story will continue over three chapters...

SOMEWHERE IN SOUTHERN GERMANY, 1862

The full moon was out. Big and bright.

The owl was hooting in the trees, and a vixon screamed.

Fitz Fischer stood at the window of a stately home, way out in the country side.

He had been waiting for sometime. His Uncle Cain had gone inside on the rob and he was playing look out again.

What was keeping him for so long? This wasn't like the other times, Cain was always swift, no sooner was he in a place, he was out of it like a shot.

Fitz stood back and looked up at the place, the moon sending shadows of the nearby trees dancing on the face of the mansion.

Somewhere in all those rooms, Cain was. Maybe in such a big house he had got lost or something, but somehow he doubted it.

After watching a fox dart across the well tended lawns, he decided enough was enough, he was gonna go inside and find him. Clawing his fingers to the window ledge, Fitz heaved himself up and managed to tuck his legs up and roll over inside.

He lost his balance and fell into the room beyond, nearly tearing down the long velvet drapes that hung at the window in the process.

He picked himself up and looked quickly about him, he was in the dining room, there was a great big table with silver candelabre's positioned down the lacy top dressing. There was china plates at each sitting waiting for some splendid feast to start.

Light on his feet, Fitz crossed the room to a huge oak door that lead out to a well polished floor that was the entrance hall. There was a huge middle staircase in front of him where the banisters went into opposite directions on the next floor.

The full moon shone through two arch like windows that sat in the skylight above.

He heard movement from the dark shadows, so he ducked into an alcove. His heart was pounding as he peered his head round to see Cain dart up the stairs something jingling in his uncle's tight grasp.

"Cain..." he hissed out, but his uncle hadn't heard him. Feeling frustrated, he was hot on Cain's tale, till he got to the top of the staircase. What direction had Cain gone in? Fitz looked up onto the walls and felt a bit freaked out by the painted portraits that hung in a line down the hall. The eyes from each of the figures in the portraits seemed to stare right through him, and move as he moved.

He nearly jumped out of his skin when Cain came out of one of the rooms, his uncle narrowed his eyes at him, " what are YOU doing in here, you're supposed to be out keeping watch!" he hissed angrily.

"I was...but you've been gone ages!" Fitz hissed back, noticing the swag bag that Cain clutched hold of, was cramped full of stuff.

"There's some nice pieces isn't there, there's a lot to look out for...tell you what, you should SEE what I've got in here! This'a keep me going for weeks when I sell it on, lad", told Cain with a glint of the eye as if he was proud of himself.

Suddenly, a door creaked out nearby.

Both Uncle and Nephew snapped there necks round to see a figure coming out of one of the bedroom down the long narrow hall. A girl in a long white night-gown.

"Whose out there?" she voice called.

"RUN!" Cried Cain.

Xxxxx

Cain came flying down the staircase and nearly went skidding across the polished floor into a grandfather clock.

"Come on!" he cried urgently.

Fitz hurried down the stairs with his heart in his mouth, he had NEVER done anything like this before. At the base of the stairs he twisted around and saw the lights of oil lamps being lit and there were doors banging and cries.

Cain pulled at the handle to the front door but it was locked and bolted up fast. Fitz nearly went smacking into him as Cain darted into the lounge area. Fitz was in a daze as the light of oil lamps was at the top of the stairs. His and Cain's only saving grace was the moon, it was now obscured behind a cloud and no light shone in the windows.

"GET THE DOGS, MR HOFFMANN! WE ARE BEING BURGLED!"

Fitz ducked into an alcove and splayed out in the shadows. There he waited, till he had his chance to flee.

Xxxxx

Cain practically fell out of the window to the grass. The swag cluttered next to him.

Where the hell was Fitz?

Why hadn't he kept up?

WHY had the silly idiot even come inside, if he had stayed put as he was told to, then they would both be making a run for it by now.

There was a gun shot that made the rabbits flee for their lives. Cain climbed to his feet, and snatched up the swag then made a run for it across the grounds, he kept looking about for Fitz...What a complete idiot following him inside in the first place.

Fitz's mother was going go spare if Fitz was snatched by the law, or even got hurt.

As he threw himself into some bushes, he twisted around ignoring the cuts from the brambles. There was a lad shifting it across the lawn at top speed...it was Fitz.

"Come on lad!" Cain called out.

Fitz turned at the sounds of dogs barking and another gunshot, Cain grabbed his arm and pulled him through the brambles, both of them being torn to shreds, they came to a 10 foot high stone wall.

Another gunshot echoed out into the night sky.

The barking and shouting getting nearer to them. Even the moon was betraying them as it was coming out from behind the clouds again.

With all his force, Cain hurtled the swag over the wall and prayed it landed somewhere soft. He then dug his fingers into the stone and managed to get a foothold, Fitz did the same as both of them in turn struggled to scale up to the top of the wall.

"THERE!" came a voice.

Cain acted on instinct and made a jump for it to the other side, Fitz turned, and with eyes bolt wide, looked down and saw the dogs barking and snapping at him from the base of the wall.

At the shout of another voice, there was final gunshot and Fitz jumped as the pain ripped up his arm.

Falling to the ground, Cain pulled him up and dragged him across the country track, and into the bushes where both laid low in a ditch for a few moments.

Cain looked his nephew over, " Did he hit you?"

Fitz looked down to his shoulder from where they squatted near the cold stream, there was blood, his black shirt was wet and as Fitz touched it, he found the blood smeared on his fingers.

Cain pointed to the stream quickly, " Come on lad! The dogs'a lose our scent if we keep to the water, we gotta get you back and get that looked at..."

Fitz nodded and was about to cross when he saw the coach and horses parked on the track. He gasped and crossed his chest.

Cain yelled out, "Fitz come on!"

Fitz pointed to the coach. Cain came forward, his swag clattering with the bounty, glanced at the black coach. The stallions that pulled it were standing still. Two horses quietly,he backed towards the stream as a fox screamed out, "we need to go NOW!"

"It's him, is't it? The one all us Gypsies fear!"

"RUN!"

And they both ran.

Xxxxx

THE NEXT MORNING

In the mansion house, Mr Schulze, the lord squire, patted the younger fellow on the back, "Well done Frederic, I think you hit him"

Frederic laughed as he watched the groundsmen return to the house, "Hoffmann said he saw blood on the brambles near the high wall - one of them is wounded, Miss Zara-Eloise said she saw two of them"

Schulze looked at the gentleman, " You like my daughter don't you?"

"You know I do...she is a fine young lady...I know that she and I have only been acquainted for a few short months, but I did hope that one day..."

"You would like to have her hand in marriage?"

They both went into the vast drawing room. Schulze went to the grand fireplace and turned, "You have proved yourself as my land manager...and I see that you are fast with a shotgun and would protect my daughter to the last"

Frederic nodded, "Of course I would sir, it is a given oath I'd lay my life on the line"

"Then I will speak to Zara-Eloise...she has dreamed of getting married ever since she was a young girl, it looks like her dream is about to come true..."

Xxxxxx

AT THE VILLAGE

The two nuns had arrived at the Inn in the nearby village. Sister Mary looked at the room up and down as she entered. Her companion Sister Ruth looked around herself. The room was basic. Two beds, a wood side cupboard and an oil lamp on a dresser near the tiny roof window.

Sister Ruth sat on the bed and nodded, "the beds are really soft"

Sister Mary was at the window looking out and then she looked back at her, "we are not here to sleep"

"But we have been travelling all night..."

Mary reached into her kit bag and pulled out a small glass bottle. Ruth saw that there was a blue sheen to it, like something inside was glowing somehow, "the holy water shines so bright...he is near"

Ruth was feeling hot in her habit and robes because it was so stuffy in the attic room, "Where could he be? In the next room?"

Mary shook her head in disappointment and gently placed the bottle back in her kit bag, "Sister Ruth, you must take this seriously"

The younger nun sighed pulling at the wood cross that hung on a chain around her neck, "where then?"

Mary considered this. So long had she been chasing Count Dracula she was getting used to all the habits he got up to, "Past experience tells me somewhere dark...some where underground, a cellar, or in a windowless room. There he will have his resting place, with his native soil he so very needs to lie on, close to hand"

The younger nun looked across to the older nun, "and does your past experience really tell he is so abominable as the order makes out"

Mary sat on her bed that creaked beneath her. Her eyes looked at her. Stared at her with much knowledge and wisdom, "my dear Sister...worse...I have seen...witnessed... with my naked eyes how he has destroyed people...families...whole communities...with his unnatural dark desires..."

Ruth didn't know whether it was right to bring this up. She hesitated but came out with it, " I heard...rumors, back at the convent...that he destroyed your family"

There is a flash of memory in Sister Mary's mind. She is a child and the screams of her mother terrified her...

Mary looked vacant, then stood, "there is much to prepare for..."

Ruth knew that was the older nuns subtle hint she didn't want to talk about it, "alright...somewhere dark...",she did think of a place that would fit in, "...what about that old ruin on the hill? It looks like it is the sort of place that would house a dark crypt, would it not?"

The old nun smiled, looking pleased. The lines on her face showing a woman well into her 70's, although she was very fit and healthy for her age, "Just what I was thinking...I was waiting for you say that...my thoughts entirely"

Ruth sighed, "look...can we at least eat first...?"

Mary stood and placed her kit bag beneath her bed, "Yes, the sun will not set for a few more hours yet...lets go downstairs and see what this Inn has to offer..."

Xxxxxx

AT THE SCHULZE MANSION

Zara-Eloise nearly dropped her bone china cup. Her jaw had simply dropped after what her father had just told her over morning tea.

Mr Schulze sat at the head of the table while his two daughters sat either side. Their was a gentle breeze coming in through the open french doors and the sun was shining very brightly.

Mr Schulze looked across to his eldest daughter and gently wiped his mouth with a starched napkin, "Did you hear what I just told you? I have decided Frederic should have your hand in marriage"

Zara-Eloise was most put out, "Marriage? To Frederic?"

Her father nodded, "yes...you and him have been acquainted for a while now...ever since he took up the estate manager position here"

"So...", Zara-Eloise choice her words carefully, "...just because he sees off a couple of midnight intruders, I AM his reward...?"

Her younger sibling Greta smirked as she finished her tea.

Schulse was confused, "But you like Frederic, don't you? You could do a whole lot worse than him, you know, he has a good social standing and his family have some very useful connections in Munich"

Looking a little annoyed that her future it seemed, was all mapped out, she dabbed her mouth with her napkin and looked up, "he's a dreadful bore...but...if I look on the bright side, at least I now get to have my big day"

Mr Schulse rose from his chair, "then it is decided, you have always dreamed of your wedding day ever since you were a little girl...now thanks to having Frederic in our lives, your dream will finally be a reality"

He nodded his head to his daughters and then vacated the table. Greta turned, "You should be happy...you are going to have a wedding...and marry a fine man"

Zara-Eloise glared at her, "yes, I have always dreamed of my wedding day...but I have always pictured my future husband to be tall dark and handsome...not short, balding and dreadfully dull"

She stood up and moved to the french doors to get some morning air. Greta watched her. She had always looked up to her older sibling. She looked delectably elegant in her long green dress and her dark hair braided in ribbons and ringlets.

Greta was frumpier. Her face was round and she always knew that she would never get the attention from male admirers like her sister did.

"At least you WILL get married...you should be grateful", and she stormed out the parlor. Zara-Eloise watched her go and just shrugged and listened to the birdsong.

Xxxxx

AT THE VILLAGE

At the Inn, the two nuns finished their lunch. Mr Kruger the innkeeper came over and took the plates, "I hope all was satisfactory?"

Sister Mary shook her head, finishing her water, "it was thank you"

Sister Ruth watched Mr Kruger take away the plates back to the bar, and in turn looked around her. The tavern was semi-busy with men drinking ale from their tankards up at the bar.

In one corner a scantily dressed bar maid was sitting in the lap of one of the local squires having a good old laugh and a sing song. She turned her head to see a young teenage boy looking at her from the corner, an older man was with him.

"Gypsy's...", said Mr Kruger. He was at their table again waiting payment for their meal.

Ruth looked up, "Yes, I thought they were...have they been here long?"

Sister Mary paid Mr Kruger for the food as he answered, "they arrived a few days ago...they are with the circus"

Sister Mary stood, "Come along...it's time we went back upstairs to pray"

Ruth nodded, "Yes...of course"

The two nuns made for the internal door and went up the creaky steps. Fitz turned to Cain, "do you think they are here for him"

Cain looked back at him sharply and downed his ale, "you know the rules...we stay out of it"

Fitz nodded and held his arm. Cain stood and pointed, "Hows your arm?"

"It's okay..."

"good...it will soon be dark, we better get back to the circus"

The two Gypsies left the tavern as Frederic came in with Zara-Eloise and Greta. Frederic removed his hat and cloak and barked over to Mr Kruger, "an ale and two red wines here innkeeper"

He held out a chair for his intended in the corner and Zara-Eloise sat down. Greta saw to herself as Frederic went over to the bar and collected the tray of drinks, "here...and keep whats left over", he dropped a few coins in Krugers hand.

"aye"

"I hear you have a couple of nuns staying here", Frederic remarked.

Kruger wiped down the grotty bar top, "yes they arrived late this morning...they staying for a few days"

"But, they must be a long way from home, there isn't any convent around for miles", Frederic laughed.

"they've paid their board, their business is no concern of mine"

Xxxxx

Outside, Fitz caught up with his uncle up the lane, "Did you see? That's the lot from the manor house we chored last night"

Cain nodded. The sun was starting to set, "I know...and they didn't even twig that we robbed them"

Fitz saw the birds in the surrounding trees start to roost, "it's sun down...we've got to get back"

Cain nodded, "come...it's quicker through the woods"

Fitz didn't know about that, but without question, he followed Cain into the darkening wood.

Xxxxx

Back at the tavern, things were getting busy. Frederic raised his tankard and announced, "this is a celebration...", he held Zara-Eloise's gaze, "...we are to get married"

The girl glanced at Greta somewhat put out and simply said, "But...you have not asked me"

Frederic shrugged as he sank the rest of his ale, "but I have asked your father...he has given his consent, so it is all settled"

Zara-Eloise nodded, she would do anything to please her father, she tried to be a good daughter, "the wedding day must be just so...I want the day to be big and lavish and talked about for years to come"

Frederic didn't look too bothered, "well, your father will be paying for it, speak to him"

Zara-Eloise didn't like his attitude, "you could act a little more excited over it"

Frederic reached for the bar maids hand and said, "another ale here", he then looked at his fiancee, "why must I? To get married is just what is expected of us"

Zara-Eloise looked deflated, "but surely there is more to life"

Frederic shrugged, as the bar began to get crowded around them, "having children?"

He then looked over at the barmaid, who leaned forward with the foamy ale, her breasts nearly spilling out of her top, "thanks Heidi"

He looked at the two siblings, "right...it is time to get you two home"

Greta looked up, "but it is still early...I only come out once a week and I don't want to go back so early"

Zara-Eloise stood and pulled her cloak around her, "no...lets go..."

Frederic stood and tried to help her fasten the cloak tie, she waved him off her, "Oh, Frederick I didn't know I was going to marry a bore"

Frederic frowned at her, "how dare you"

"You take us out because you feel like that is your duty...but the truth is, you don't even want us here", told Zara-Eloise.

Frederic laughed, "you should be grateful that I have even looked at you...do you know how wealthy my family are?"

"Money? All that wealth and you expect my father to pay for our wedding"

Frederic looked at her like she was dirt on his boot, "wedding? I don't think so...a bride of mine would have to show a little more respect"

And he walked out.

Greta looked at her sister. All sorts of unsavouries were looking at them, "Zara...I want to go home"

Her sister took her hand, "come on...he'll be outside waiting for us I'd expect"

Xxxxx

"Oh I cannot simply believe it...how dare Frederic just run out on me...I'm a lady and he dares treat me like this...I am going to tell Papa on him", cried Zara-Eloise as she looked up and down the empty street outside.

Greta huddled next to her, "Oh sister dear, we don't live that far away, plus we have our cloaks...not that we will need them...look at the sky, the moon is radiant"

Zara looked up at the full fat moon. It was so bright that their faces seemed to glow, "Oh, how I love the moon"

Greta turned, "why did you have to say all that to him"

"Ohh it was all so frightfully tiresome really, I just told him the truth, he is such a stuffy bore, I don't not wish to marry him"

"But Papa likes him...and he was the one who shot the robber", Greta pointed out.

"Oh...how very heroic of him, maybe you can marry him if you are that impressed by his impeevish attitude", cried Zara and led the way out of the village and into the narrow lanes surrounded by thick forests.

Greta could see the rays of moonlight shining in through the trees and onto the track. It was then she heard the sounds of horse hooves and was first to see the black coach roll up ahead of them, "Look...", she pointed, "...Could it be Frederic? Maybe he has come back for us"

Zara pulled her cloak around her, "He hasn't a coach like that"

Greta frowned as the coach and horses came to a halt beside them, "It looks more like a hearse"

The figure leaned out and smiled at them both, "And why are two lovely ladies like yourselves walking alone in the dark...?"

Zara-Eloise and her sister kept close, "We fancied some fresh air"

The man nodded and looked up to the sky, "Yes, the night is warm...", he then looked back to them, dark eyes focusing more on Zara-Eloise, "...but beware of the wolves, even in summer they are known to hunger for blood"

Greta laughed, "don't be silly...everybody knows they live up in the mountains"

The man smirked at her, "not always...", he seemed to look over and beyond her, "...ahhh"

Zara-Eloise jumped, "what?"

The man pointed towards the dark forests, "over there...I can see their shiny little eyes reflecting in the moonlight"

Greta looked nervous as she glanced around to take a look into the gloomy surrounding woods, "What..."

"The wolves of course"

Zara shuddered, "Disgusting creatures...are they as dangerous as people tell?"

The man looked at her. Zara couldn't help but be held by those dark eyes, "worse...with my own eyes I have seen a pack of them rip a villager apart...there really wasn't that much left of him afterwards"

Greta was clearly frustrated and scorned at her sister, "why did you have to say all of that to Frederic? He would have got us home safely"

The man clicked the door of the coach and it swung open. He ushered his hand at the seat opposite him, "would both of you care for a ride...in my coach?"

Zara-Eloise could see that the coaches inside was very luxuriant. It was all lined with a rich padding of red satin.

"are you sure you will not be going out of your way if we were to accept?"

Greta wasn't so sure and stalled her, "are you sure Zara? Papa says we must never ride with strangers"

Zara looked at her, "Oh Greta don't be such a bore"

The man shook his head, "No your sister is right and very sensible is she too...", he gave her a nod, "...but let us get acquainted, I am Count Dracula"

Zara-Eloise was instantly impressed, "A count? A nobleman?", she looked at her sister,"...see, there you go...", she turned back to the count, "...we accept, kind sir"

Dracula extended his hand and helped Zara into the coach, he then gave his hand to Greta and did the same for her, he then slammed the door shut and sat back looking at them with a keen smirk and a twinkle in his eyes, "now...where too?"

TO BE CONTINUED IN NEXT CHAPTER...

"


	4. Immortal vows - part two

STILL SOMEWHERE IN SOUTHERN GERMANY, 1862

Count Dracula's coach rolled up the lane, as Zara-Eloise told the count about all what they had been through that evening, "...and then he simply walked out on us...leaving two ladies of some wealth at the mercy of some incredibly horrid looking undesirables"

Greta looked at her, "Oh come on sister dear, they weren't exactly foaming at the mouth you know...", she looked at the Count, who till this time, sat back in his seat looking very amused at their bickering over the story, "...you have to forgive my sister Count, she does tend to over exaggerate her tales"

Dracula brushed his fingers over his lips and leaned forward, "not at all, I think that this young gentlemen of hers must be very immature to even think of doing that"

"he is...", Zara then smoothed her hand across the lush red satin, "...the workmanship of this coach is simply divine...so soft and luxurious"

Dracula chuckled, "yes it is, isn't it! Everybody says that when they ride with me...some just don't ever want to leave..."

Greta didn't like his grin...it was a grin you could interrupt two ways...one of innocent amusement...or one heralding something more sinister and dark.

She found herself reaching for the brass door release, "have you locked this door?"

Dracula's eyes landed on her, "the door is always locked when we are in transit...", he chuckled again, "...we wouldn't want anyone falling out, would we?"

Zara-Eloise laughed, "Oh sister dear...you are such a bore sometimes...cannot you see the Count is doing us a kind turn here"

Dracula sat back and looked at his nails, "No no...it doesn't matter, I do have this effect on people"

Greta pointed, "We have arrived"

Dracula nodded, not bothering to look out the window, "So we have...how time simply flies by"

Zara looked across to the Count, "It's so strange, but I feel that, although it's only been a very few short minutes, I feel like I've know you forever"

Dracula raised his eyebrows, "I do seem to have that reaction from people as well"

"But I feel so at ease with you"

Greta realised that the coach had come to a halt, "speak for yourself"

Dracula looked over to the door and nodded, "It's not locked..."

Greta opened it and climbed out. Zara Elosie felt embarrassed and her face revealed that to him, "I do very much apologise for my sister...how awfully ungrateful she must come cross to you"

He reached out and took her hand, "Not at all...besides, she is not who I am interested in...", he let her work that one out herself whilst holding her gaze.

"Thank you...for the ride home"

"The pleasure is all mine...safe journey to the house", and he kissed her hand and let her go.

As Zara walked away from the coach, she turned and saw the Count looking out the window, "till we meet again..."

And then the coach went along it's way up the lane. Greta lead the way across the moonlit grounds to the mansion, "By the lord...he was creepy!"

Zara-Elosie frowned at her as they made for the entrance steps to the manor, "were we riding in the same coach? He was nothing less than a fine gentleman"

Greta pulled her cloak off as they trod the checkered floor of the entrance hall, "and how did he know we were sisters?"

Zara untied her cloak cord, "sorry?"

"He said and I quote, your sister is right and very sensible...his words...how did he know we were sisters...?"

Zara laughed at her as she made for the grand staircase, the moon shining in through the skylight, "Oh, I'm sure he just guessed"

Greta wasn't convinced at all, "we do not even look alike...you are tall, slim and beautiful...and I am..."

"short, fat and frumpy? Oh sister dear, it is no crime, you can come out and say it"

They reached the upper landing. Zara yawned, "I feel so drained. I really need to sleep now, I fear that Frederic's tiresome behaviour has really taken it out of me..."

Greta leaned on the banister and watched her sister enter her bedroom and close the door behind her. Feeling deflated, Greta crossed the hall to her room and did the same.

Xxxxxx

Up the lane, the two gypsies from the circus had just done over another house. With their sack of treasures, they strolled in the moonlight, "you see lad, that went like clockwork...selling all of this on will bring us a tidy sum", told Uncle Cain.

Fitz nodded as an owl hooted in the surrounding forests. They came to the track, "we better not take no more...otherwise the finger will point to us...they always blame the gypsies for robberies"

Cain laughed, "funny and always true"

Fitz looked to the lane and saw the black coach. He stopped still his his tracks with fear glazed in his eyes. Cain stopped behind him, "don't be drawn to it, put your back to it and stride forth"

Both Cain and Fitz walked down the dark lane. The circus was settled in a field around the lower bend. About a miles hike.

There was the sound of horse hooves. And as they got further down the lane, there was a sound of a gallop. Fitz turned around and widened his eyes at the sight of the coach and horses speeding up towards them.

Cain sprinted forward. The bramble was too thick at the edges of the road to take safety. Fitz gasped as he looked around at the sound of a cracking whip. Cain shouted at him, "never look back...never"

But his Uncle tripped on a stone and went flying to the ground. He cried out in pain as his knee was gaping open where his pants were torn through.

The swag they had stolen went flying into the bracken and was lost. Fitz turned and saw his Uncle on the ground. He went to approach him and help.

"Noooooo, get away!", cried his Uncle seething in pain.

Fitz backed off as the coach and horses came crashing forward and ran straight into his Uncle as he tried to stand. It was all to late.

Cain's body was trampled on like a rag roll, and his battered body was soon beneath the wheels of the coach. Being dragged along. His skin was ripping from his bones and his cries of pain were soon silenced as his body was left twisted on the track behind the coach.

Fitz gasped as he backed into the thorny bracken. A hawthorn bush. If the legends of his people were correct, he should be safe. The thorns were dangerous to a vampire. The coach was at a stop. The horses whining. And snorting in anticipation.

Dracula jumped out of the coach and looked towards the lad, "You...boy...come here", he ordered.

Fitz swallowed down and although the bracken thorns was cutting him to shreds, he crawled further in. His heart racing and threatening to beat right out of his chest.

Dracula was amused and laughed, "Oh come on...must I really do all the chasing?"

Fitz had tears rolling down his cheeks. All he could hear was his Uncle's last dying cries in his head.

"...look, if this is about your Uncles little accident, I can assure you it was unavoidable...", he chuckled as his dark eyes narrowed scanning the forest, "...but I must say, his last cries of pain were silenced far too quickly...I'll bravely promise you that yours won't be..."

Fitz reached the end of the stood up and caught Dracula's eye.

"Ah! There you are...", he went to come forward and gasped at the Hawthorn bush, "...ahhhh...just like a good gypsy from the old country, you know all the legends...it's a shame, how I would loved to have savoured that young supple flavour of yours..."

Disappointed, Dracula looked up to the night sky and lifted his hands and parted them, he laughed out loud, "I hope you can run young boy...because you will need to..."

And with that, Fitz was running though the trees of the forest. Foxes, deer and rabbits bolted out of his way. And then he shrieked as a cloud of bats seemed to appear out of nowhere. The bats darted down and he waved his hands in a frenzy to push forward, but they kept on coming showing no sign of abating.

Fitz threw himself to the next track and saw the village up ahead. He ran into the main street and the bats disappeared off into the roof tops above. Fitz turned and saw the door to the ale store open at the tavern. Seeking refuge, he darted inside and hid among the stacked barrels of ale.

Xxxxx

Sister Mary looked out of the small roof window of their room. Something had crashed into one of the small window panes. Sister Ruth looked over from her bed, "what was it?"

Mary pulled the thin drape across and nodded, "It looked like a bat...or possibly a confused bird flying in the dark, when it should have gone to roost hours ago"

Sister Mary settled back into bed and pulled the thread worn covers around her, "We should get some sleep...we need to look at that ruin tomorrow"

She blew out her candle, and the soft glowing yellow light of the room suddenly went black with dark shadows.

"What will we find if he is there?"

Mary turned her head on the hard pillow, it was more of a sack, "he will have his resting place...if he is there, then we can watch him"

Ruth swallowed, "I want to learn...but I am afraid"

"He is a Vampire...there is much to be afraid of child...it is too dangerous for us to tackle him on our own...the good we do is that we can watch him, and warn those who have taken his eye for his darkest needs"

"how long have you been doing this?", wondered Sister Ruth out aloud.

The older nun turned her head in the darkness, "Count Dracula has taken up most of my life...ever since...", she stopped in mid sentence and then said, "...he is a much twisted individual, who preys on those who are weaker than himself...one has to be one step ahead of him, because he can exploit ones fears and turn them into a reality"

"Does he know we are here?"

"He always knows...but please try not to be afraid...because being afraid is the only way he can get into your mind...you need to be strong...and have God's gift in your sole...your faith"

Ruth nodded and turned over and faced the musty wall. She hoped she was strong...this could turn out to be the biggest test of her faith yet.

Xxxxx

THE NEXT MORNING

Zara-Eloise was far from happy as she entered the parlor. The sun was bright and the maid had set down the breakfast, "I'm sorry Papa, but the man is deplorable...he left Greta and I in the most ghastly of venues"

Mr Schulze sighed as he and Frederic followed her, "But Frederic has explained that your behaviour was a clear factor of his actions...you forget...you are my eldest daughter and I know you too well"

Frederic waved a hand, "I was probably very much to blame...I was hurt when she accused me of being simply dull"

Zara sat at the table and poured herself some tea. Greta, who was already sat at the table looked up, "Oh Papa, you know what Zara is like...I'm sure they will sort it all through if you let them...although the only nitpick was after you left us we were picked up by a creep of a man who said he was noble..."

Zara lifted her china cup to her lips and glared at her, "just because his attention was focused on me and not you...you didn't even thank him for the ride home"

Mr Schulze sat down, and settled his napkin, "at least you got home safely...and...I would warn you Frederic that that behaviour of abandonment must never happen again"

Frederic shook his head, "Never again, sir...this girl will never come to harm on my watch"

He reached out across the breakfast table and took Zara's hand, and she looked back at him with a far away smile...

Xxxxx

AT THE VILLAGE

"Well, that was all a waste of time...it seems that Dracula is not resting in that old ruin on the hill after all"

Coming in from the hot afternoon heat, Sister Mary entered the tavern and Mr Kruger was up at the bar uncapping a barrel of ale, "Sisters...", he said in greeting.

Ruth nodded and turned to her superior, "...and there was no sign from the holy water...maybe Dracula has moved on..."

Sister Mary sat down, "No...I don't think so...he is nearby...I just know it"

Mr Kruger came over to them, "can I get you something? A drink it is hot today"

Mary looked up and said with a wave of the hand, "two waters will go down very nicely..."

As Mr Kruger pumped them two jugs of water from the well in the corner, he turned to the nuns, "Oh, that young gypsy boy was here earlier, I found him hiding in the barrel store...shaking like a leaf he was...I asked him what he was doing in there, and if he was alright, and he kept on asking to see you"

Sister Mary looked up and frowned, "Did he say why he wanted to see us?"

"No...he is resting in the stable out the back, shall I stir him?"

The nun nodded, "yes...I think I might be very interested in what he has to say..."

The Inn keeper went out the back and into the stable. Earlier he had left the boy to sleep on the straw, but the only occupant in the stable now was the shire horse.

He made a quick fuss of the beast and then went back inside, "it seems that the boy has left", he informed.

Ruth turned, "Where would he go?"

Sister Mary stood, "I know where...Mr Kruger, the boy came with the gypsy circus...where might I find that..."

XXXxxxx

LATER

The two nuns strolled down the lane and turned the corner. The field was empty. Mr Kruger had said that this was where the circus had settled, but it had already packed up and gone along it's way, "there...", pointed Ruth.

Mary could see the line of colourful gypsy caravans being pulled up the lane over the yonder in the late afternoon haze.

"Sister Mary, one caravan has been left behind...look"

Ruth was right, in the field was a caravan, but it looked like that it had been ravaged by fire.

Crossing the field of long grass, the nuns cautiously approached the wreck. Both of them nearly jumped out of their skins when Fitz came out from behind it.

He was pointing to the his disappearing clan, "they have ousted me...Uncle Cain was killed by him...they say it's put a blight on the community... they turned their backs on me"

Sister Mary was gentle, "Young man...what is it...your Uncle is dead?"

Fitz nodded, he was sweating in the heat, "HE killed him...trampled him to death with his horses...and then he went under the wheels"

The older nun glanced to the younger one, "Count Dracula?"

Fitz nodded, unable to utter that dreadful name.

Ruth frowned, "but why would the rest of them shun you"

"They think he will come after ME..."

Sister Mary understood, "rest easy...come with us...there is no way you can stay in that thing", she nodded towards the charred out shell of his mobile home.

"Where is your Uncle's body", asked Ruth.

"It was on the road...but now it is gone...HE must have moved it...disposed of his works like he always does"

Mary glanced to the heavens, the late afternoon seemed to pick up a breeze that rustled the leaves of the trees in the thick forests around them, "it is getting late...we must head back to the inn, we can talk again there"

Fitz took one final glance at his blackened abode, and then followed the two nuns across the grass towards the lane.

Xxxxxx

As dusk came, the two nuns settled back in their room at the inn. Both sisters of the order were on their knees and praying to God. After, they got undressed for bed.

"do you think the gypsy boy will be alright?", asked Ruth as she crawled into bed.

"I have paid for a room here for the night, and Mr Kruger gave him a good meal, I think he will be safe enough"

Sister Mary then reached for her kit bag from underneath her bed, and picked out the blue bottle of holy water. It glowed eeriely in the darkness of their room.

"He stirs..."

Ruth looked uneasy, "do you think the boy was right about the girl up at the manor house?"

"he seemed sure enough...and it fits in with him seeing Dracula's coach loitering up the lane nearby...he has chosen his next victim"

"Do you think he is there now?"

Mary placed the bottle away and settled back, "it's sun down isn't it? If he is not there yet, I'm sure he soon will be...we will pay a visit there tomorrow...there will be signs"

"And if there are? Will they believe you?"

Sister Mary sighed, "lets just hope so..."

XXXX

It was after dark. Zara-Eloise put the book down on the antique bedside table, and stifled a small yawn. She was tired.

She looked to the french doors of her room that went out to the balcony. The room was hot. Indeed it had been a long hot summers day. As the candle flickered on the side, the room was filled with ghostly shadows as she slid out of bed and padded over the wood floor in bare foot to the french doors, and opened them. The very lightest of cool breezes touched her hot cheeks.

She could hear an owl hoot, and there was the odd scream of a fox in the distance. The lace curtain flapped around her as she stepped out to the warm stone of the balcony. It was only slowly cooling off from being long baked all day by the sun.

As she looked up to the lazy half moon, she heard movement and gasped out when she turned and saw Count Dracula standing in his cloak on the other side of the balcony. He too was looking up at the moon. But he wasn't there earlier, when she came out.

"It's you", she whispered. Her voice so quiet, but so loud of a whisper.

Dracula turned his attention from the moon to look at her and smiled, "Of course it's me"

Zara put her hands together and edged a little nearer, "But how...?"

Dracula shrugged, as he too stepped nearer to her, "was you expecting somebody else?"

Zara could see his wonderful dark eyes. He held hers, "I've been thinking about you all day", she whispered.

Dracula smiled at her, "I know"

Zara managed to break the eye contact, and felt slightly dazed. She looked to the well kept grounds below, shrouded by the moonlight, then realised how far down it actually was, she looked back at him in awe, "How did you get up here?"

Dracula slid his hand across the balcony top and hinted a smirk, "I climbed the walls"

Zara didn't understand. Climbed the walls? But surely they were too smooth to get a hand let alone a foothold of. She felt a rush of gidderness sweep over her.

"You make my head rush so"

Dracula was in front of her now, and looked down at her, he reached out and gently lifted her chin, "just a blood rush...you are excited...I can hear the beat of your heart...it sounds like you are pleased to see me"

Zara's eyes were simply lost in his, "I am...what must I do?"

Dracula caresses his sharp fingers on her cheeks and tilted his head with a smirk, "You only have to invite me in"

Zara was strong. She had always been strong willed. She tore away from his alluring gaze and breathed out, "I suddenly feel more afraid"

Dracula was soothing, "It won't last for long", he reassured.

Zara bit her cherry lips and looked back at him. The moonlight casting her shadow against the wall...but not his...he had no shadow, "Do you want me...?"

Dracula licked his lips and was looking at the pulse of her neck, giving one the impression of a fox eyeing up it's prey, he swallowed down, craving it, "I want of you...", eyes still fixed at her slender neck, "...I can almost taste you", he whispered in excited anticipation.

She looked afraid of him, so he instead reached out and gathered up her hand into his, and turned it over to see her wrist. He stared at it, gently putting his sharp finger to her tiny pulse, and feeling the blood move in her veins, he looked at her and said, "May I? Shhhhusssh, Don't be afraid...it will be just the smallest of nips"

And with his sharp nail he pierced her vein, the blood trickled out over her wrist and hand. He then stooped and put his mouth to her wrist vein, and started to feed gently. She stared out to the moon. Her heartbeat was racing. She felt hot and cold all at the same time. She also felt excitement. Her life had been so dull. Dull, dull, dull. She felt alive. She breathed out fast. He suddenly stopped and looked up at her. A bead of blood ran from his lips, "I know what you are dreaming of...close your eyes and I will make it happen..."

"You can?"

"I promise..."

She closed her eyes and she didn't seem to be on the balcony anymore. She was somewhere else.

She was dressed in pure white. She looked up to the ugly gargoyles hanging greedily off the gantries of the arches of what looked like a church. This was a really old church. This was a wedding venue.

Zara heard the church-organ play, and she was carried off by, what only can be described as invisible hands down the aisle. Dracula was waiting for her. There was no congregation. Just Dracula, dressed in a smart black dress suit with a blood red rose withering on his lapel. Zara moved to his side and she looked up at him. Dracula smiled...his dark eyes seeming to smile back at her. He then looked up ahead, and pointed.

In some old castle somewhere, Zara was In his arms. Dracula caressed her neck and held her gaze. he then slowly and gently brushed his mouth over her sweet lips...

Zara laid on her the floor of her balcony, and she opened her eyes as the warmth of the first rays of sun hit her soft skin. She was chilled too. Goose bumps on her bare arms.

Had she dreamed all of that? Had she passed out on the balcony, and only now coming around? She felt weak and giddy as she slowly got to her feet.

She went back into the bedroom and flopped onto her bed. She turned over and felt the pain of her wrist. She next examined the puncture marks. They looked sore, but were healing quickly.

She gasped and bit her lips.

He had been there. Count Dracula. He had given her the most wonderful of dreams. He had made her feel so alive...she smiled as her door knocked and the maid came in with a cup of morning refreshment.

"Good morning miss"

"thank you"

Zara settled back and wondered when she would see him again...

CONTINUED IN THE NEXT CHAPTER.

"


	5. Immortal vows - part three

AND STILL SOMEWHERE IN SOUTHERN GERMANY, 1862

The moon was radiant. The air was still. The only sound was the foxes screaming in the woods. Zara-Eloise sat up in bed and looked towards the french doors. There had been a gentle rap.

Somewhat on the weak side, she slid herself out of bed, and went over to the doors and unlocked them. Count Dracula was leaning on the door-frame with a lopsided grin, "why, hello..."

Zara smiled sweetly at him, "you are late you naughty boy"

Dracula chuckled and grabbed her by the shoulders, his eyes hungry for her neck, "there was this little peasant girl I visited..."

"you cheated..."

Dracula's eyes yearned for that jugular of hers, "ohhh it was only little cheat...she was nothing to get excited over, her flavour was dreadfully plain..."

Zara licked her lips and tilted her head to one side and pulled her hair back, "I think I'd like to go all the way tonight..."

Dracula looked like he was fit to burst, "ohhh you tease..."

"Do you want me...?"

"Yes"

"you promise me my dreams..."

Dracula swallowed down, eyes fixed adoringly at her beating neck pulse, "of course...anything for you"

She raised her hand and touched Dracula's cheek, he in turn took her hand and kissed it and moved down to her pulse in her wrist.

He looked at her, "May I?"

"To start off with...then you can go further"

He closed his eyes and set his fangs down onto the soft vein and started to drink, and Zara gasped to the heavens like she was about to orgasm.

She closed her eyes and like so many nights before, she wasn't on the balcony anymore. She was somewhere else.

She was dressed in white. She looked up to the ugly gargoyles hanging greedily off the gantries of the arches of the church. This was a really old church. This was a wedding venue.

Zara heard the church-organ play and she was carried by what only can be described as invisible hands down the aisle. Dracula was waiting for her. There was no congregation. Just Dracula, dressed in a smart black dress suit with a blood red rose withering on his lapel. Zara moved to his side and she looked up at him. Dracula smiled...his dark eyes seeming to smile at her. He looked up ahead and pointed.

In some old castle somewhere, she and Dracula were dancing. He held her eyes as he swept her across the flagstones like she was floating, "Your dancing is majestic"

Dracula smiled at her, "I have had years of practice. How I love to dance. I can't remember the last time...oh yes...her name was Valeria and she was so beautiful..."

"As beautiful as me?"

"Oh, come now, I don't like to make comparisons...it wouldn't be fair...oh, how I wanted Valeria...we danced on her birthday...she was so fair...so warm and had the smoothest of skin...so soft, and that tiny little pulse...it called to me...I wanted to taste her so badly..."

Zara-Eloise detected sadness in his eyes as they stopped dancing, "...what happened to her?"

He looked at her and shrugged, "She stayed mortal..."

Zara was breathing hard as she stared into his dark eyes, "have me...like you wanted to have her..."

Dracula took this as an invitation and lowered his mouth to her full lips and kissed her softly, she responded and then he moved his lips down to the pulse of her neck. He paused, then opening his mouth wide, his fangs sunk into her jugular.

She wanted to scream out in ecstasy. She shook and felt like air. She was swirling in a vortex of red and black. She could smell incense and burning and the life's of a hundred years.

And the there seemed to be nothing at all. Just a peacefulness. She was conscious, but unconscious at the same time. It was all so incredibly inexplicable.

But what she did know...was that she never felt so alive.

TWO WEEKS LATER

Zara-Eloise was in bed. She felt very weak as she looked up at the artex ceiling and drifted off to sleep again.

The doctor placed a hand over her forehead, then got his brass trumpet from his medical case, and put it to her chest and listened intently.

Mr Schulze, Frederic and Greta were all nearby watching. The doctor placed his things back into his case and removed his specs, "how long has she been like this..."

"For a few days...she refuses to to leave the room", answered her father, "do you know what is wrong with her?"

The doctor turned and looked at him, "She has no fever, no sign that she has contracted any kind of virus...yet she is very pale...is there anemia in your family?"

"No"

The doctor went and gently lifted her hand, "these marks on her wrist...bruising...do you know how she obtained them?"

Greta came forward, "no...but she has the very same marks on her neck"

The doctor glanced at her, then went and very gently turned Zara's head towards him. Nothing. He turned her head away from him, and saw the purple bruising.

"I see"

Mr Schulze was puzzled and very concerned for his daughters welfare, "what possibly could cause that? The anemia? Has she been bitten by some unruly insect, the nights have been so hot and she does have her doors open"

The doctor sighed, "I do not know...I advise to keep a careful watch on her...make sure she is giving plenty of fluids as well...hot tea is good"

Greta lifted her dress and made for the french doors, "I should close them..."

The doctor shook his head as he readied to make leave, "no, no...the fresh air will do her good"

Downstairs, the maid had just opened the door when the bell had chimed. Sister Mary was standing there with Sister Ruth. The maid was unsure to let them in, because they had called around before and the master had quickly shown them the door.

The doctor came down the grand stairs and fetched up his hat from the stand. Mr Schulze was with him, "so remember what I said, plenty of fluids"

Mr Schulze nodded and then saw the nuns on the doorstep, "You two again?"

The doctor turned on the fresh hold, "I'm sure praying with them would be a great comfort"

"Praying? They called here a few days ago harping on about Vampires!"

The doctor looked at the nuns and then back at Mr Schulze, "the thought of that did occur to me if I am honest...it's something that is not talked about, but I have heard of such cases"

The nuns looked grateful to him.

"You mean to say, I should listen to them?"

The doctor wasn't committing himself, but he said, "all I am telling you, is what ever they suggest, it wouldn't do any harm to her"

Once the doctor was on his way, the nuns were shown upstairs. Frederic came out of the bedroom and stopped at the landing looking at them, "What is this? You and your fantasy stories of creatures of the night?"

Mr Schulze came up the stairs, "Frederic please...let them do what they have to do...as the doctor just said, what harm could it do?"

Frederic lifted his hands, "it's absurd. I've never heard of such claptrap in all of my years...you are on your own squire..."

Frederic made for the stairs, Schulze turned, "if you leave this house, then don't bother coming back...your wife to be needs your support"

Frederic laughed at him with snide in his expression, "Marry her? I don't think so...she is too sickly...and you are all deranged to even listen to what they have to say...I'm having no part of it"

And Frederic was gone.

In the Bedroom, Greta looked up to see the nuns enter. Father was behind them. Sister Mary went over to Zara and took her hand and smiled, "there is still time to save this child"

Schulze didn't want to believe it, but asked, "what is it you want us to do?"

The older nun turned, "there are certain rituals I want to carry out...I understand that she is always found out on the balcony...is that correct sir?"

"that is correct"

Their was a breather of relief from her, "that is a positive thing...it means that she hasn't invited him into the house"

Greta glanced at her father and then at the nun, "you are talking about this...Vampire?"

"Indeed"

The nun went back to Zara and pulled back the bed sheets a little, "now...she must have a blessed cross around her neck...that will be a valuable deterrent"

Greta went over to a chest and lifted the ornate lid, "she had a few necklaces in here I think...oh, is this one too small?

Mary looked at the tiny crucifix in Greta's palm in dismay, "...it is and I dare say it isn't blessed", she looked at her younger aid in training, "Sister Ruth...remove the chain around from your neck and we will put it on the child"

Ruth did as instructed and lifted the chain from over her habit, and went over and put it around the slumbering girl gently.

The large silver cross on the chain was nesting at her bosom.

Mary was pleased, "Yes...that will do very nicely", she looked at her pupil, "what else must we do...?"

Ruth was already putting her hand into the kit bag, "we must dowse the room with holy water"

"Correct"

And she lifted the blue bottle of blessed water and undid the cork, and performed a sprinkling around the bedroom.

Greta came to Mary's side, "Who is it? The Vampire...do you know?"

"His name is Count Dracula...he is one of the more notorious of them...there are others...Styria and this region are haunted by them"

She noticed the horror in Greta's face.

She immediately touched her arm, "Child what is wrong?"

Greta looked at her and then at her father and then at Ruth, "It was him...he was the one who rode us back to the house when Frederic abandoned us in the village...Count Dracula...we brought him here!"

Mr Schulze was alarmed, "but that was over two weeks ago!"

Sister Mary quickly picked up the hand mirror from the side and held it to Zara, "She still has a reflection...there is still time to save her"

Zara was mumbling in her sleep, "mmmm...the church...the bells...the wedding...such a beautiful wedding day..."

Mary wasn't too concerned by this, "she is dreaming...Vampires will make dreams come true when they feed on them...it's all apart of their seduction"

Schulze's face was so sad, "she always wanted to get married...since she was a little girl...getting all dressed up and many times I was acting as the bridegroom in her childhood games"

Mary looked at him from across the bed, "and he knows that..."

Xxxxx

THE VILLAGE

It was in the late afternoon shadows, the two nuns arrived back to the village. As they entered the tavern, Mr Kruger was sat ashen faced.

Sister Mary went over to him to where sat in a chair near the taverns fireplace, "Mr Kruger what is it...you look like you have just seen a ghost"

The inn keeper looked at her. His eyes were wide, "It...it is the gypsy boy..."

"Fitz? What about him?"

"After you left here this morning for the manor house, I went into the stable to ready the shire horse for the cart to collect an ale delivery in town..."

Mary nodded, "yes..."

He looked at her and the horror in his eyes betrayed him. Mary made her way to the back, Mr Kruger got up, "sister no"

But it was too late, Sister Mary was already in the stable, and the horror was clear in her eyes as she looked up to Fitz swinging on a hang man's noose from the rafters.

His neck had been slit open, and there was a pool of dried and congealed blood under where he swung.

"I'm sorry...", said Mr Kruger, "I should have stopped you from..."

She whirled around, her face just as ashen as his, "Mr Kruger...do you have a cellar here?"

"Yes...a wine cellar..."

The nun was desperate and tugged at him, "Show me...show me now!"

Ruth watched as she and the inn keeper went down some very musty steps to a bolted up wooden door. Cobwebs hung from the tiny arch.

"Open it"

Mr Kruger really didn't know what all this was about as he put the key in the lock, but Ruth was beginning to understand, as she came up the rear as they entered the damp cellar.

Mary surveyed her surroundings. There were racks upon racks of vintage wine gathering dust and cobwebs. It was dark, just the light from the doorway.

"Yes...I knew it..."

She reached into her kit bag on her shoulder, and dug out the bottle of holy water. It was shining so bright. So bright it hurt her eyes. Mr Kruger shook his head in amazement as Ruth came forward, "He's here?"

Mary stared at the bottle. There was an image of Dracula's face and he was laughing at her. it was mocking laughter.

The bottle suddenly began to get red hot, and she threw it to the ground where it smashed into tiny shards. The water drying on the floor almost instantly in a steam.

"Mr Kruger have you a candle...?"

He went outside and was back again at an instant with a lit wick. She took it from him and all their faces illumed in the gloom of the cellar. There had been a space. Where something had rested in the far corner.

"I knew it...I KNEW IT!", she almost cried, "he was here all the time"

She looked at Ruth sadly, "You jested when we first came here remember, that he was in the next room...little did we know how close to the truth you was"

Mr Kruger was baffled, "what is this all about...?"

Xxxxxx

MIDNIGHT

Zara-Eloise was moaning in her sleep. She opened her eyes and sat up. There was a gentle breeze and it was wafting the lace curtain up at her french doors.

Dracula was on the balcony. With new found strength, she slipped out of the bed and padded over to the doors.

"I wish you would invite me in"

Zara looked at him, "I want to..."

His smile faded when he saw what was around her neck, "I see you have had unwelcome visitors"

He then sniffed the air, "Ahhhh the stench of holy water"

Zara smiled at him, "What of it? You can have me"

Dracula scratched his head and looked at her, "Ohhhh, I so wanted your blood...yours was a good faviour...one of the best in years...but alas, it is now tainted"

Zara frowned, "tainted?"

He nodded, "I'm afraid so"

She reached for his head and tried to pull him to her neck, "Please...I want you to"

He grabbed hold her hand tightly, and turned his gaze away from the cross at her breast, "I cannot...it is the end..."

Her voice was quiet and small, "End?"

He looked to the moon and smiled, "isn't it just radiant tonight? The moon"

Caught unawares, she looked up, "Yes...it is"

And then he slit her neck with his finger nail, and she fell to the stone choking for air, he had gone straight through the windpipe.

He stood over her, watching the dark blood pool out around her, "Awwwww, Zara, what a waste...how I wanted it all"

She was fitting and the fits stopped.

It was them her bedroom door burst open. Dracula looked up and tilted his head. Mr Schulze came forward, "Get away from her! Get away from her", and he rose the shotgun.

Dracula was amused, "ahhhhh the father...he has come to protect his daughter from the devil incarnate..."

Zara's father raised the gun and took aim. When he fired, it shook the house. Dracula jumped over the balcony. Schulze hurried over and looked over the rail. The Vampire was gone.

He stooped to his daughter, "Zara...oh Zara, my precious daughter"

Greta was then at the doorway in her night gown, he looked up, "get the kitchen boy to run to the village...I want that nun, now!"

A hour later, Zara was on the bed. The doctor shook his head sadly, "She has lost too much blood. There is no hope"

Sister Mary crossed herself over the chest. Feeling the anger build, Schulze turned to her,"you...you said she would be saved...you said there was time to save her!"

Mary shook her head, "Dracula is more powerful than I imagined. I thought it would work. I am truly sorry"

"Get out of here...GET OUT OF HERE!"

Sister Mary was upset at herself as she came down the stairs and leaned on the post. Greta was waiting at the open door. Mary looked up at her and tried to explain, "I am truly sorry...I thought I could stop him with..."

Greta shook her head, "I loved my sister dearly...I really did...but for the first time in my life, I am glad I am not tall, slim and beautiful. That I am short frumpy and fat. Because I think it was that what saved me..."

Sister Mary just nodded her head and was out the door. She felt gutted. Glancing back at the house in the moonlight, she made along her way.

XXxxx

THE VILLAGE

Sister Mary entered the empty tavern and saw Count Dracula sitting near the fire place at a table. He rose the goblet at her and smiled, "ahhh, please...won't you join me for a drink? I've been expecting you"

Mary looked at him. He was dressed in his shirt and waist coat with the collar loose. The Count dipped his finger into the goblet and put it to his mouth. God only knows whose blood it was. The Innkeepers?

She approached him, "I must say Count Dracula, you are casually attired..."

He smirked and looked at her like she really should have known, "oh come now Ivana, I haven't come far, as well as you know"

She shook her head clutching the chain around her neck, "so you have been resting in the cellar here, I saw you in the holy water"

Dracula didn't answer. He just raised his eyebrows.

"Did you have to kill the gypsy boy? He did nothing to you"

Dracula waved a hand as if the mention of the boy was an irritant, "something to pass away the time..."

Mary looked about the tavern, "Why is it so quiet in here? Is that the Inn Keepers blood you have in that poison chalice"

"He's is not a flavour I could savour, Ivana"

Mary came close still clutching her chain, "Don't call me that!"

Dracula laughed, "Why not? It is your name isn't it?"

The nun swallowed, "I am Sister Mary of the holy order..."

Dracula laughed at her, "but I prefer you as Ivana"

She didn't like the images her birth name conjured up in her mind. She shuddered and tried to force the past away to the back of her mind...but he knew that.

"Oh Ivana...do you remember when I taught you to dance? How old were you? 12? No. I think it was 13, coming of age. Your mother let me in the house and we had a splendid evening, did we not?"

The nun breathed hard.

Dracula drank from the goblet and wiped his mouth and continued, "...your mother was too trusting...how I tortured her soul, do you remember? She screamed and she screamed...it was a wonderful end to the proceedings that evening, don't you think?"

Mary tried to hold her emotions in check.

"...and there you was, watching me...those little eyes full of shock and fear of me..."

She found her voice, "Not anymore"

Dracula shrugged and leaned forward in the chair. The fire crackled in the hearth, "do you know why she had to die? It was your mother who was responsible for the up-rising in the village. It was her and her misguided friends who came up to my castle, armed with their pitch forks and their fire torches"

"You were the plague...you were the one responsible for the darkness sweeping over our land...your unholy stance...your reeking of the unnatural and everything that is not sacred...they wanted to destroy you"

Dracula shrugged it off, "I can understand that...I'm Undead not Unreasonable...it was just a pity for them that I was safely snug in my tomb...and there was absolutely nothing the fires could take hold of"

The nun slumped to a chair, "but the reign of terror you caused"

"Yes, do you think I would let her get away with it? No. So I killed her in the most painfully way possible and not just you, but for all the village to see...I made her an example of...I can't say fairer than that...OHHHH this blood really is divine, you should try some"

"I'm afraid it really isn't my taste"

Dracula looked at her, "you'd be surprised...", he held the goblet up and mused, "...I will call this one the sauce of a dirty little prostitute who found her escape through the holy order..."

And he looked at her with a dark grin.

Sister Mary jumped out the chair. It was so sudden, the chair kicked over onto it's back with a crash, "NO!"

She ran to the stairwell and up the creaky stairs to her room. Upon opening the door, she could already see what she knew was true before entering.

Sister Ruth was on the bed. She looked so peaceful except for a chunk of her neck ripped out and a trail of blood staining the bed sheets.

Dracula came to the doorway and leaned on the frame, "not the best I've tasted...but far, the most sensual...the things she got up to...", he chuckled, "...the things some men dream of"

Sister Mary had her back to him. Her eyes fixed on Ruth's lifeless form. Ruth's own eyes staring out and looking vacant.

"Has the time come for me? You keep on threatening to do it...", she swung around, "...so why not now"

Dracula was most amused, "what? And take away the such failure that you feel? She was your acolyte was she not? She thought she was safe...little did she know that was untrue...didn't you not think I'd recognise the chain and cross around Zara's neck? I did instantly...I took that as an open invitation for dinner..."

Sister Mary closed eyes tight. And a tear ran down her cheek, but she wasn't going to allow him to see the pain she was in. That she in-fact did feel like she had failed her novice in training, not only that, but was stupid enough to realise she had left the younger nun completely vulnerable.

But of course, Dracula knew all too well. He turned to leave, but just before going down the steps he said, "the time has to be right before I kill you...I want it to be something I can savour and enjoy...something I can look forward to...just the thought of you forever wondering when that time will be, will keep me enthralled in the game"

The lightening haze outside the window caught his dark eyes.

"Ahhhh sunrise approaches, I must go...till we meet again, Ivana"

And he was gone. Sister Mary picked up her robes to stop her self tripping, as she hurried down the creaky steps. But Dracula was nowhere to be seen, just the outside door swinging open.

She looked out, but he was gone. Nothing but the dawn chorus. She closed the door and rested her back on it and looked to the ceiling for celestial guidance.

Another death.

This vile creature. One day, she would get him, and if not her, then somebody in the holy order.

One day...

"


	6. A flavour called Lucy

_A/N: A contemporary tale sometime after Dracula has escaped the confines of the Jonathan Harker Foundation. A different take on Lucy._

LONDON, ENGLAND, 2020

_"How is she...?"_

_"Mrs Westenra, your daughter has suffered extensive blood loss. Lucy will need a transfusion. We are getting concerned that she is getting very withdrawn. I have asked for the hospital psychiatric team to do a valuation on her..."_

_"She doesn't need to see a therapist!"_

_"I beg to differ Mrs Westenra...because this isn't the first time Lucy has been in this situation...is it? It's, by MY records, the third time"_

...

Hi, I'm Lucy, where do I begin...Oh...I was really jealous of that girl at work, the one who always seems to get the guy.

She is Robin Wray. She's all curly hair and pink lipstick. She dresses to impress and always has the guys running after her down at the wine bar after work.

Oh and, oh yeah, there's also Zev Harmer. He's a friend of Robin. Part of her clique if you will. His hair is blond. Fake if you please, and he always has a flamboyant dress sense that goes nicely with his theatrical personality.

And HE gets the guys too.

Me...well, they (Robin and Zev) tolerate me I suppose. They let me tag along after them, but both of them laugh and giggle at me because I can never get a boyfriend.

Well, I can start with what happened a few Months ago...

At the time I DID get a boyfriend, but Robin got him off his face and gave him a blow job. She did that because I said I wouldn't do a sales pitch for her.

Quinsey (The boyfriend, an American guy from the New York office) wouldn't stop apologising the next day at work. But he was far from sorry because during the lunch break, Robin was in with him getting more of the same in a toilet cubicle.

But still, after ALL THAT, I'm jealous...why is that THEY can get the guys and not me?

I'm not that unattractive...my hair is brown and comes to my shoulders. I wear tight jeans and tiny tops that TRY to show off my breasts. Even if they are on the small side.

I don't wear much makeup or lipstick...but Mum said I looked beautiful without it.

Oh...oh yeah...I DO wear specs. Only at the office mind. When I go out to a club with Zev and Robin I always make an effort and wear my contacts.

It was at a club I met him. Count Dracula...he was so handsome. I can still picture him standing in that nightclub with the music playing the lights flashing and the clubbers dancing around him like he never existed.

His hair was swept back and cropped at the sides and back. It was jet black in colour. His eyes were dark as well, and they each shone like diamonds.

And his smile. His smile made me want to smile.

His black shirt was tight on him, but it clearly showed how much this guy worked out. His trousers were dark and his boots were polished.

...

_"Lucy WAKE UP! The doctor is saying you have to see a therapist! Come on! What is wrong with you! GET THE DOCTOR! SHE IS SO COLD!"_

_Go away Mum! I just want to tell everybody about this guy._

The funny thing was that nobody seemed to take much notice of him. In-fact NO notice of him, because like I said before, it was like he never existed.

"Can I buy you a drink?"

That's what Dracula said to me...but it was strange that his lips never moved...it was like he was speaking in my mind and his voice was deep and so calm...so masculine.

I said yes of course. I was under his spell right from the start.

I remember I was glad I wore that dress that went down to my thighs, the one with all the shiny silver sequins sparkling all down it. It was the only dress that shaped my breasts too.

I followed him to the bar. He sort off...drifted...people seemed to part the way ahead even though it was like they couldn't see him...like he was an unseen presence.

The bartender saw him, because he served him and he bought me red wine and he had nothing.

I asked him why he picked me and not, shall we say, the likes of Robin and Zev.

"I like you...there is something every special about you Lucy Westenra..."

I followed him to the corner and I said I'd not seen him before.

"I'm new in town, this is my first time in this place...and then I saw you dancing...I liked the way you danced, Lucy"

God he was ripped. He was so toned. The way he stood beside me made me feel safe and I had never ever had got that feeling off a guy before. Not that as I said, had that much experience.

Dracula looks down at me and tilts his head, those wonderful eyes smiling at me. The clubs colourful lights strobing our faces.

"You want to take a walk...outside..."

I jumped at an instant. And made a beeline for Robin and Zev and told them about Dracula, and I was out with him taking a walk.

What guy? There is NO guy, that was what Zev kept jeering at me sharply as he squeezed the thigh of a fit guy beside him.

It was dark in the cemetery across the street. I was cold. Dracula kindly put his heavy long coat around me, the expensive red satin lining was all silky and divine. It kept me warm and wore off the November night chill. It was icy for sure, and there was white frost appearing on the grass.

Was it that late already. Past 2 am

I can just remember his warm breath near my neck. He whispers calm things in my ear and then I sway and feel all warm and nice.

OH...that was the first time I ended up in the hospital!

Some clubbers had called an ambulance because they said I was lying up against a headstone. I was freezing cold and white as a sheet.

Mum said I was white as a sheet when she came to the hospital. And the emergency doctors kept on asking her if I was anaemic or something.

...

_"Lucy! Come on wake up now...please..."_

_"I have to call time on this..."_

_"KEEP TRYING...YOU HAVE TO KEEP TRYING!"_

...

All this fuss.

Well. After I was discharged from hospital the first time round, I went home and told Mum about Count Dracula. The guy at the club.

Mum told me I was stupid. That there was no guy.

She was just like Zev and Robin. She thinks I can never get a guy because I am so unattractive.

At the office, Robin and Zev never said a word about what happened at the club. I asked them about the guy I was with and they said there was NEVER a guy there. I was just standing on my own and looking like a wishful thinking saddo like I usually do.

Oh yeah...It was when I got back to work was when I realised that I had lost my shadow. On sharp cold sunny days when I walked to the tube for work in the mornings, my shadow is long and always ahead of me.

Not now.

Everybody else still has...but not me...since I left the hospital...I have no shadow.

Anyway...I do get carried away, don't I...back to the story...it was a little before Christmas when I saw this Dracula again.

I was out with Mum at the shopping mall and we were doing our seasonal shopping for gifts. (I still had no shadow but didn't care by then)

Mum went to get a gift from a store we were passing and I stayed outside in the mall and watched as kids were lining up to see Father Christmas in his colourful grotto.

My eyes wandered and I saw HIM again.

Dracula was leaning up against the wall staring right back at me. And he was smiling. And he looked good in his tight shirt and his dark trousers and his polished doc marten black boots.

He came over...or drifted...because it seemed that he was at my side at a blink of an eye.

"Lucy, _Lucy_...it's good to see you again..."

I ask him where he had been and that why nobody could see him.

"Lucy, time is relative...what does it matter? And why would YOU want your heartless cruel friends to see me? Wouldn't they want me for themselves..."

God I felt lite. The hustle and bustle of the mall was going on around me but it was all like a blur...that it was all in the background and it was just HIM and me.

God, he smelt so good...what was that aftershave?

"Do you want to take a walk...?"

I nodded yes and took his arm. He seemed unaware of the comings and goings around us. His smile was only for me. He stops at a jewelry store and points into the glass.

"I have seen you look at that necklace so many times Lucy...I've watched you...your eyes light up when you see it..."

Fat chance...It was several thousand pounds and Mum would never buy me it for Christmas or my Birthday that fell on the same day.

"How it would look on you Lucy...how it would sit nicely around that beautiful neck of yours"

I felt all dreamy. I was swaying because I was feeling all hot. I was totally lost in his dark eyes...they were shiny...keeping mine fixed with his. The necklace was in his hands, and whilst I stood there not being able to move, he was behind me fastening up the clasp and the necklace was around me.

His mouth was close to my neck as he whispered in to my ear, "It looks good...like it was especially made for you..."

His voice was in my head...his lips...they never seemed to move...his hot breath was on my neck and I felt like I was going to explode.

I was on the hard cold floor of the mall. There were shoppers flapping around me. All I could see when I looked up was faces and gift bags and the angel that sat on the 10 foot Christmas tree that stood like a beacon in the mall.

I was in hospital again because I passed out. And the doctors in the emergency department had to give me an emergency blood transfuson.

I was so pale. Deathly pale, Mum told me. She was so worried.

...

Well...Christmas was spent in the hospital...but well...I had no choice.

When I was discharged, I stayed at home for a few weeks and then went back to work. Robin told me that everyone at the office had thought I had lost it. That I was ready for the funny farm because of my funny turns.

Oh...I haven't mentioned that, besides as not having a shadow, I have no reflection in the mirror either!

But I didn't let it worry me.

Would anybody care? I'm starting not to care.

It was February when I last Dracula. This time it was at home.

...

_"Lucy...you have got to pull yourself together honey, the doctors think you needed to see a therapist...once you tell them all about HIM...the guy that is only a figment of your imagination...then they WILL put you away...you do know that, don't you...or...will you ever hear me again...?"_

...

Why is she sobbing?.

Anyway...the final time I saw him was at home. I said just now, didn't I.

I just finished a long hard day at work.

I let myself in and I go upstairs to grab a shower. Then I go to my bedroom to towel off. Dracula was there!

He was standing there with a freezing cold chill coming in through the balcony windows. The french doors were open and HE was letting the lace curtain flap around him.

"It's time Lucy...It's time"

I am self conscious of course. I only had a dolphin patterned towel around me and my hair was hanging damp.

"All you have to do is invite me in"

I wanted to. I was so very drawn to him.

"It's you and me Lucy...all you need to do is let me in"

I was in a whirl. I saw pictures in my mind where I had shoved my fingers inside me and thought about HIM.

"I can make real that fantasy...how you picture it now...in your mind"

HE can read my mind too? Who the hell was this guy? I am a bit angry at him. I ask him how he got onto my balcony to my room and how he had unlatched the lock.

Glass. Yeah well. It was like the time in the mall at Christmas, wasn't it? He had snapped up that necklace by putting his hand through the glass like it was water. Just like the glass in the french doors.

"You are angry I know. But I bring you no harm, Lucy, I need you to believe that"

HE wasn't smiling no more. His face was serious and he looked older. Not adult older...but more mature. Like he wasn't playing games.

"Close your eyes..."

I closed them. I was under his spell. I was ALWAYS under his spell.

"Just let me in..."

I nodded and Dracula came and stood in front of me. I could smell his aftershave. I could feel his hot breath in my face.

And then I felt the towel drop.

"Keep your eyes shut"

His voice calm as always. In my head as always.

I felt his hands on my shoulders. He was squeezing them gently. Then his hands moved to my back and I felt his lips on my own.

A metallic taste.

Strange.

I felt giddy. I felt flushed and full of excitement all at the same time

I never felt this alive. I wanted to open my eyes but I could not...it was like some unseen force was keeping them closed.

"Do you love me?", I asked.

"No"

"Would you ever love me?"

"No...we have something so much more than mortal emotional entanglements between us Lucy"

He looked at my neck with hungry eyes.

"Do you want me Lucy? Do you crave for what you fantasize over every-night...?"

I shake my head. Yes Yes Yes.

Dracula was kissing my mouth. He then moved down my cheek to my neck and then stopped. I gasp as he sunk his teeth into my flesh.

I want to open my eyes. But it was like glue.

I feel hot and giddy as sharp pain shudders up me. my whole body felt alive as he drank me. Please please please...I want to open my eyes.

"Then open them"

With his mouth smeared with my blood, Dracula pulled away and unbuttoned his shirt and then drew a line across his chest below the nipple on his heart side. His sharp fingernail cut into the flesh and the red blood started to ooze.

My neck...my neck, it hurt so much. But my eyes were drawn to the blood. I was breathing hard.

"I offer you a are gift Lucy...you are of such a special flavour, you are a gourmet not a gluten...a taste I have waited for over such a long, long time...come Lucy, come and drink from me"

And I wanted to scream when I saw the amount of blood that was spilled out over the sheets around me. But his smile made me calm and I let his hand push me to his chest and I tasted his blood.

"Yes...drink from me Lucy...", he then made me stop and pushed my head back so my neck was in his full view. My little pulse beating at him.

"You will always be beautiful Lucy, your friends with age and they will wither and they will rot...but you...bloofer lady...you will never age"

He leaned down and kissed me on the forehead and held my eyes. His eyes were dark and alluring. And he finally smiled...his pupils jet black...sharp needle like points in the corners of his mouth.

And then I felt him sink his teeth inside me...he drank greedily...he made me feel alive...I was wanting to explode when he fell on me and his weight pinned me down to the blood soaked sheets.

I don't remember what happened after that. Only that I ended up in the hospital, AGAIN.

I don't remember anyone coming in and calling the ambulance.

...

_"I can't believe this...how am I ever going to get over this"_

_"It will be hard Mrs Westenra...but please use the hospital chapel if it gives you comfort at this sad time"_

_And I suddenly seemed to know what was going on now. Why was Mum standing over me. Why was she carrying her rosary beads from church._

_I can smell the disinfectant._

_The man standing beside Mum isn't a doctor at all, it was Father what's his face...the priest. Only now I can see what was going on._

_Mum leaned over and kissed me on the cheek...didn't she see my eyes were open? She then turned her back on me and all I could hear was the click of her heels on the tiles._

_"Mum? Mum where are you going? MUM?_

_And that was when it happened._

_That was when the body tray was pushed back into the ice cold fridge and the door to the mortuary drawer was slammed shut._

_But that was only the beginning...as a new life awaited me._


	7. The Brooding beast - Part 1

_Foreword - Continues 8 months after A flavour called Lucy._

_LONDON, 2020_

_IT MIGHT JUST BE A STORY...THE STAFF ROOM AT WORK IS ALWAYS FULL OF HEARSAY AND GOSSIP, ESPECIALLY WHEN THERE IS A GOOD STORY UP FOR GRABS...BUT I HEARD THAT A JOURNALIST FRIEND OF MINE WAS DOING A STORY ABOUT THE RECENT SPATE OF GRISLY MURDERS AROUND TOWN. THING IS, NO ONE BELIEVED HER. EVEN WHEN SHE STARTED TO RANT ON AND ON ABOUT BEING FOLLOWED IN THE NIGHT AND SEEING A BLACK CAR PARK OUTSIDE OF HER PLACE, AND THE MYSTERIOUS PHONE CALL AND THE WARNING WRITTEN WITH BLOOD OVER HER MIRROR..._

_AS I SAID, IT COULD JUST ALL BE A STORY...BUT, WELL...I'LL LET YOU DECIDE..._

_-ANDY ALLEN-_

VV

THE VICTIMS ARE ALL THE SAME WHEN FOUND...PALLID, WITHDRAWN...HORROR FROZEN IN THEIR EYES...

Andrea Darlington removed her specs and sighed at the computer screen. This damned story was doing her head right in.

Diet coke. That's was she needed.

She went to the kitchen and pulled a can out from the fridge.

She wished she stayed freelance now. But being freelance didn't pay the rent. She sighed again and pulled the ring on her coke and had a couple of sips.

HE FEEDS ON THOSE WHO ARE VULNERABLE...HE LIKES FRESH YOUNG BLOOD...THAT'S WHAT THE RUMOURS SAY.

Andrea shuddered, that's what that girls mother said. The one that had been hooked up to a transfusion machine in the general hospital for 3 days. She begged it not to take her daughter...but it did and now she was...gone.

But not after sending her mother around the twist, and made her cut her own wrists.

VV

"MS DARLINGTON...YOU ARE PERFECT FOR A STORY LIKE THIS...WASN'T IT YOU WHO LIKES TO HAVE WILD PARTIES AT HALLOWE'EN"

That's what her Editor had said to her. He called her in his office the other week, and said that there was someone going around saying that some abomination was going around stalking and killing girls about town.

Namely, the person saying this, was a excommunicated Catholic priest that talked to himself.

The one and only chance she had gone around his place (a run town apartment block in the back end of town) he had babbled on and on at her for hours about how the city was damned and that the evil was enveloping them.

The next day, he leaped over a balcony and killed himself.

There was her trying her best with this story and her first port of call killed himself, after a long rant about all our blood running cold.

VV

The phone rang.

She went into her living room and answered it;

"Oh hi...who...wait a minute let me just go grab a pen...what's the address...thanks' for that Andy...I owe you...bye for now"

She had scrawled down a Meg Westenra...458 Anderson Green gardens, London W5.

She tore off the pad and stuffed it in her purse, then went to get her jacket and car keys.

VV

_OH...OKAY...IT WAS ME WHO GAVE HER THAT LEAD...MRS WESTENRA...I HEARD THAT LITTLE GEM FROM SOME GIRL I USED TO DATE...SHE USED TO WORK AT THE SAME SALES FIRM IN LONDON AS MRS WESTENRA'S DAUGHTER._

_APPARENTLY, THE WESTENRA GIRL HAD DIED IN A HORRIBLE WAY. AND THEN THERE WAS ALL THAT SHIT WITH THE PRIEST AND THAT EVEN AFTER DEATH, HER SOUL WAS BLIGHTED._

_ANYWAY...ANDREA WENT TO SEE HER...THAT'S WHEN IT ALL GOT A BIT WEIRD._

VV

Andrea cruised the car up the tree lined street, then saw the house she was looking for...pen in mouth, she had one hand on the steering wheel, and the other hand scrabbling along the passenger seat for the piece of paper with the address scribbled on it.

456...457...there 458.

She parked the car up on the curb and grabbing her purse. She locked up the vehicle and hurried up the path and up the porch steps to the front door. 458 read the number downward and diagonal.

Mrs Westenra, a black woman in her forties and looked like she had been drinking, was soon opening the door and staring out at her. Bags under the eyes. Hair hanging lank and a bad attitude.

"WHAT? IF YOU ARE GONNA BE SELLING ME SOMETHING..."

Andrea held up her card, "Hi...I'm Andrea Darlington...from the journal...I'm looking into a story that involves Father James. You know him...?", she trailed off.

Mrs Westernra considered it then lit up a cigarette.

"HE will be watching us"

And then she pulled her into the house.

"She was going on and on about this guy she had meet at a club", she said between puffs.

"who was he?"

"I asked her what his name was...she told me it was Count Dracula, sounds foreign...and he was a lot older than her"

"You were okay with your daughter seeing this guy?", Andrea asked.

"She never had that many boyfriends...I think she was taking in by him", she stubbed out the cigarette.

"Sounds to me that your daughter didn't really know this guy at all..."

Mrs Westenra laughed, "She was besotted with him...she went on and on and on about him all the time..."

"This Count Dracula...?"

"YES! I JUST SAID, DIDN'T I...? DID I?"

"Mrs Westenra...there is an awful lot of wine bottles around this room...have you been drinking?"

"Are you some kind of social worker? Is this what you lot do now...tricking me to see if I have a drink problem..."

"Mrs Westenra...when I arrived, you said...HE will be watching us..."

"Yes"

"Who?"

"Haha...NOW I KNOW you are trying to trick me...HE sent you didn't he?"

Andrea sighed, "No one has sent me...I am a journalist...a reporter...I am doing a story about Father James, remember...?"

The black woman shuddered, "Father James knew what was going on...HE knew"

"Mrs Westenra?...Mrs Westenra...?"

Seeing that Mrs Westenra was now slumped on the sofa with a bottle of gin in her grasp, Andrea decided to have a look around the house.

The blinds were drawn all over the ground floor. There was a dark gloomy moody feel to the property. And there was washing hanging along the hall that stunk of damp.

Up the stairs she came to the first bedroom. Mrs Westenra's. It was a tangled mess of an unmade bed and a tangle of dirty washing strewn all over the place. The curtains were drawn.

Andrea went across the hall and came to another bedroom. The room had been stripped bare. No carpet, no blinds, no furnishings.

It was like it was stripped and... cleansed.

VV

She let herself out and strode down the path to the car. And all of a sudden, there was this wind whipping up around her. The trees bent, and the bushes rustled and her hair was blowing across her face. Just around her. The folks standing across the street at the bus stop were unaffected by the gale.

She shuddered. And fumbled for her car key. Then she noticed the car parked across the street. It was black and it was big and it looked like that it had been put through the wash a few times.

The windows were dark, or were they just tinted?

And then it drove up the street and turned the corner. And then it was gone.

HE WILL BE WATCHING US

That thought went through her mind, as she jumped in her car and fired up the engine. Putting her foot down on the gas, she took off up the street in the opposite direction.

VV

_WELL...THAT'S WHERE ALL THIS SHIT WAS SUPPOSED TO OF STARTED...THAT WAS THE FIRST TIME SHE SAID ABOUT SEEING THAT CAR...AND THINGS GOT EVEN STRANGER...EVEN DARKER FOR HER..._

_SO A FEW DAYS LATER, ANDREA TOLD ME ABOUT THIS CAR THAT WAS PARKED OUTSIDE HER HOUSE. A BLACK CAR WITH TINTED WINDOWS HAD BEEN THERE TWO NIGHTS RUNNING. IT WAS NEVER THERE DURING THE DAY...BUT NO SOONER HAD THE SUN GONE DOWN, THE CAR APPEARED OUT OF THE BLUE._

_-ANDY ALLEN-_

Andrea was drinking cold diet coke as she watched the minute hand struck midnight. She had been working on her story. Lucy Westenra's paper work from the county coroners department had not been much help, but one of the attendants agreed to meet her on his next day-off, for a fee.

She closed down her laptop and reached for the coke again. Was that a shadow at her window?

She stood up from the dining chair and crossed over to the window. Pushing the curtain back she saw that it was just the rose bush outside being blown against the window pane. She did however see the mysterious black car parked across the street.

Any normal person would have confronted the driver. To ask them why the hell were they parked there for...but seeing that car put a a certain icy shiver down her spine.

Or maybe it was just the nature of the story she was writing...she was just spooking herself.

VV

_I WAS IN THE OFFICE THE NEXT DAY AND GOT A CALL FROM AN OLD FRIEND OF MINE FROM COLLEGE. SHE TOLD ME THAT HER NEIGHBOUR HAD BEEN FOUND IN A STATE OF NEAR DEATH, AND NEEDED AN URGENT BLOOD TRANSFUSION... I KNEW THIS WAS NOT DISSIMILAR TO THE WESTENRA CASE, AND TIPPED OFF ANDREA._

VV

Andrea parked her car up the neatly kept avenue and stepped out onto the path. It was a cold grey day. Or it was here anyway. Mrs Rodan was in her winter coat on the porch. She saw Andrea approach and flicked away her cigarette.

Andrea stepped up onto the porch and shook her hand, "Mrs Rodan? Hi...I'm Andrea...you spoke to my colleague Randy Allen? I'm hear to listen to your story...about your neighbour...I'd like to talk to her if she is around...is that at all possible?"

Mrs Rodan shook her head and offered Andrea a sofa to sit on and a cup of herbal tea that was vile. Lighting up another cigarette she spoke about her neighbour.

"She broke up with her boyfriend and was seeing this other guy...she told me he was like no guy she had ever dated"

"Mrs Rodan...you said to my colleague that she was found near death"

"Yes...her sister found her...she came around for the key because she failed to show up to feed the cat...her sister said that she had found her on her bed looking pale...all washed out"

"Mrs Rodan...was there any lead up to this? Had she changed in anyway"

"She was looking awfully pale...even before she was found...Father James told me that she had the devil in her...he appeared on my doorstep the day before he killed himself...he pointed in my face and said that her life's blood had turned sour"

"Father James came to see you!"

"Yes...we used to go to his church a few years back...well, till last month when we attended again after a lapsing for while"

"Mrs Rodan...do you know a Mrs Westenra?"

"Yes we attend the same church...it was awful of what happened to her poor daughter...she bled to death you know..."

VV

Andrea was back at the office as soon as she was out of the place. If the Rodan's knew the Westenra's then that had to be a link there...hasn't there?

VV

_I LISTENED TO WHAT SHE TOLD ME ABOUT A POSSIBLE LINK. SHE WAS LIKE A DOG WITH A BONE NOW. LITTLE DID SHE KNOW THAT ONCE SHE PICKED THIS PATH TO GO DOWN...THERE WAS NO TURNING BACK..._

_AS I WRITE THIS, THERE IS A TINGLE DOWN MY SPINE. I WANT TO WARN ANDREA - OF WHAT SHE WAS DEALING WITH. I AM NOT ONE TO BELIEVE IN THE SUPER-NATURAL, BUT I HAD THIS FEELING OF PENDING DOOM WHEN IT CAME TO HER...IN TWO DAYS, I AM GOING TO MEET A SOURCE FROM THE MYSTERIOUS NOW DEFUNCT JONATHAN HARKER FOUNDATION...I GOT THE FEELING HE KNOWS MORE OF WHAT'S GOING ON..._

_-ANDY ALLEN-_

_VV_

Andrea had gotten a call from the mortuary porter at that hospital where Lucy Westenra had died eight months ago.

The porter was sweaty and nervous and whatever he had gone through or seen, he was very much still effecting him.

Andrea suggested a cafe around the corner from the hospital. The porter met her there at around 10am.

Andrea ordered herself a latte, and then pointed to the cold coffee that the porter nursed.

"You wanna a refill there?"

He nodded no.

Andrea scraped the chair back and sat down and removed her dictaphone from her purse.

"You mind if I tape this? I find it easier than short-hand, believe me"

He nodded no.

"Look...can I call you Pete? You said that 'for a fee' you would tell me what you saw at the hospital...you know...when Lucy Westenra died..."

Pete's eyes looked up at her and shook his head, "I can't..."

His reply was barely audible.

"I'm sorry...?"

"I said I can't...he will know what I'm doing you see...if he knows that I am speaking to you...then I will be next, do you understand...?"

Andrea laughed it off, "Well I don't actually...look...Pete...I can see that whatever you..you know...has had a profound effect on you, but..."

He met her line of sight. His eyes looked bloodshot and like he hadn't slept in weeks, "Father James told me at the hospital when she died...he told me, be careful of what I say...be careful of who I speak to because he will know...HE WILL KNOW!"

"Who will...", she pressed.

He swallowed, looking about him for unseen faces, "I said that it wasn't normal...of how she died...and the priest knew...he knew a lot more than he was telling the police, I can tell you...when he spoke about 'him knowing' 'then seeing' 'them watching', I dismissed him as a crackpot priest...little did I know, huh?"

Andrea sat back and chewed her tongue, then she sipped her latte and placed the carton back onto the table, "look Pete...what was it that led you to believe that Father James was speaking the truth"

"He made SURE I wasn't to speak out, just believe me when I tell you...I think I'm telling you too much already, but what the hell...you see...the priest told me about this Foundation place...that they had some beast there...but they had to let him go...they had no choice"

"Lucy Westenra's boyfriend?...this Count Dracula...is that who you are talking about?"

"Yeah...I think that was his name...the girl's mother told the priest, you should have seen the look of horror in his eyes...look, I can't tell you no more..."

Andrea shook her head, "Why not..?"

Pete's face held an air of warning, "You are in too deep now...just like me...just like that crackpot priest...but he wasn't so crackpot...well, not enough to want to go kill himself..."

Andrea felt flushed, "You mean...he DIDN'T commit suicide?"

"He was as sane as you and me...why would he...that's all I'm saying...he was shooting his mouth off...saying something about him feeding off us for generations and that we will all go to hell.."

Andrea felt a draft, she pulled her jacket around her...

"You feel it...", remarked Pete,and nodded, "Yeah...you are in it up to your neck lady...now...forget the fee...this advice is for free...get out of here and forget your story...with a bit of luck on your side, he might forget about you..."

And with that Pete jumped up and exited the cafe with the door swinging back.

Andrea felt cold again and tied her belt up and slipped away her dictaphone.

VV

When she got back home, she slumped onto her couch and sighed. She then reached into her purse and pulled out the dictaphone.

She shook her head and pressed play.

"You mind if I tape this? I find it easier than short-hand believe me...", then there was interference. It was like the sound of a howling wind. She picked up the dictaphone and wound it on and pressed play...the same awful teeth grinding interference as before.

Suddenly the dictaphone became very hot and she dropped it...the thing smoldered and melted away as Andrea choked on the fumes and ran to the bathroom.

VV

_POOR ANDREA...I FELT FOR HER WHEN SHE CALLED ME. I WAS CERTAINLY INTERESTED IN THE FOUNDATION BUSINESS THAT FATHER JAMES SPOKE ABOUT...I DIDN'T MENTION ABOUT MY MEETING IN TWO DAYS, BUT I AM NEARLY CONVINCED IT IS THE SAME JONATHAN HARKER FOUNDATION._

_I AM GOING TO MEET MY CONTACT LATER, TO LEARN WHAT HE KNOWS ABOUT THIS JONATHAN HARKER FOUNDATION, I WORRY OVER WHAT I WILL FIND OUT. ANDREA MEANWHILE HAS WORRIES OF HER OWN CONCERNING HER DAUGHTER..._

_-ANDY ALLEN-_

VV

Andrea tossed and turned in her bed sheets. Infact the bed sheets were soaked in her sweat. She was dreaming that she was lying in a coffin and all she could see up above her was the inky black of the night sky. The constellations were there in all view to her.

It was cold. It was icy. And there was the whispers in the icy air that extended from her breathing through her blue lips.

She could feel that something was willing her to give in...or give up completely and die.

The loss of her life was close like she was experiencing it over and over.

The black veil of death with it's black rotting teeth and a breath that was so rancid the air was tainted for-ever and a day.

And then, as she was falling...coffin in all...she could feel the pit of her stomach churn and rise up and she then...

opened her eyes...

The bed sheets were tangled around her. She rose up and pushed back her hair out from her eyes and swung her legs to the cold grey carpet of her bedroom.

"Mum?"

Andrea looked up and frowned to see her 20 year old daughter smiling at her from the doorway, "Mum, you not up yet? You are gonna be so late for work"

"It's okay Leanna...I'm not gonna go in today"

Leanna, whose hair was like golden flames and reached her waist came forward clutching her works folder, "Why not? You sick?"

Andrea shook her head and stood up, "No...I'm gonna work from home"

Leanna watched her mother slip on her bathrobe, "I heard you talking in your sleep...just wait till I tell..."

Andrea tied the cord around her waist and looked at her, "tell who...?"

Leanna looked flummoxed and started to backtrack, "No body...look I'm miss the bus"

"Tell who...LEA, TELL ME!"

Leanna was open mouthed in shock...her mother never raised her voice at her like that. And she wasn't a child no more.

"chill out...Mum? What has got into you?"

Andrea tried to laugh it off and gathered up her washing from the basket, "Nothing, I didn't get much sleep...never mind me...you just get to work"

Leanna nodded and crossed the landing and went down the stairs. Andrea threw the washing into the corner and then went into the bathroom to rinse her face.

She dried her face with a towel and went back into her bedroom and peered out of her french door that went onto the veranda. She could see her daughter walk up the pathway and went across the street where the red London bendy bus was pulling up, and it's door was sliding open.

Andrea shook her head and sighed and then went to her briefcase and pulled out her paperwork.

She looked at the twisted smoldered dictaphone and turned it in her hand.

She needed to speak to Andy...

VV

Leanna was on the bus. She turned back in her seat and spoke to Cecile who was scrolling through her iPhone and laughed, "Hey...you meeting Patrick at the club tonight?"

Cecile smiled, she lowered her top and let her cleavage show, "I was with him last night...he told his wife that he had to work late"

Leanna shook her head.

"What about you...what about...what's his name again? This mature guy you always go on about and we never see...?"

Leanna smirked and toyed with the chain around her neck that this mature guy had given her, it was kind of antique, it looked like it had some belonged to a Russian Empress or something, but it was small, sweet and she loved the design, "He'll be there tonight...he's always here..."

VV

Andrea was on her iPhone for the umpteenth time that afternoon...voicemail again, "Andy...it's Andrea could you please call me back...pleasssee!"

She huffed and sat down onto the sofa. She was cold. She went and checked the thermostat and that read 80!

There was no way on God's Earth that it was 80 degrees in the living room. She went into the kitchen and reached for her microwave ready-meal. Leanna was out till late, it was another night with a meal on her lap watching the TV.

VV

The club in town was just getting busy. The dance music played and drinkers moved to the rhythm . Cecile did a line of cocaine in the toilets.

Patrick laughed his head off as he sniffed back his own line, and had Cecile's hand down his pants.

"fuck...yeah"

The outer door squeaked as it pulled open and Leanna came through, "Cecile? Are you in here?"

Cecile turned in the toilet cubicle and Patrick zipped up his pants.

"Lea? Yeah...just coming"

Patrick was high, "I was the one who was cumming"

"All over my hand Patrick! You dirty bastard"

"You're dirty little bitch who loves it"

Cecile looked up at him, "It's good for me that your wife doesn't"

She reached for the toilet paper and wiped her hands.

Leanna frowned as the toilet cubicle swung open and Cecile came out and laughed, "Hiya...we were just..."

"He shouldn't be in here...if the club security found out, they'll chuck us out"

Cecile grabbed her hand, and laughed, "Nobody's gonna tell'em! Come on...lets go dance"

"Your hand is sticky!"

"Yeah...sorry about that...I like to share"

Patrick watched them go laughing, then felt a chill about him. He swung around and looked back into the toilet cubicle feeling like he was being watched...he shook his head and vacated the toilet.

VV

The lights went from red to green and from blue to yellow as they strobed on their giggling faces on the dance floor.

Patrick was behind Leanna and placed his hand on her lower back, she turned and met his eyes.

"Stop that", she shouted over the loud music.

"Stop what..."

He slipped his hand down to her pert bum.

"She said stop"

Patrick looked up to see the guy who wasn't there a second ago, Leanna smiled, "Dracula! I thought you wasn't gonna make it..."

Patrick met the other guy's dark eyes, and he felt an icy chill run over him.

"Sorry friend...but you can't blame a guy for trying, huh?"

Dracula stood there in a tight black shirt and black trousers . His black doc martin boots were highly polished.

Leanna nestled into his shoulder as he placed his arm around her, "Do you want to go for a walk..."

His eyes flickered to her neck and then back to her eyes.

Leanna felt lost in them and the music went all distant in the foreground.

"Yeah...sure", she breathed.

And he took her outside.

Cecile turned from the bar and looked about her, she frowned as she paid for the tray of drinks and started to walk to a table.

"Leanna?"

Patrick scooped her up suddenly from behind, "Hey...I'm gonna have to go after this drink, I've had six missed calls from the missus"

"Have you seen Lea?"

"Lea? Ohhhh Yeah...she was with...some guy I think..."

"What did he look like?"

"I dunno...older than her, like 40 or something...to be honest I felt something dark in him"

Suddenly someone from the office grabbed her arm, "Cecile...quick! Somethings happened to your friend outside!"

CONTINUED IN NEXT CHAPTER...


	8. The Brooding beast - Part 2

Leanna's skin was ice cold where she laid upon the dirty hard pavement. Beth Green and Susie McGuver from the office were the ones that found her as they came back from smoking cigarettes out on the street.

Leanna was gasping for breath as the clubs security was forcing on lookers to back off and give her some space. Susie had gone in the club and alerted Cecile.

Leanna touched her neck and looked at her fingers. Why was she bleeding?. What was going on? Where the hell was...where was he? Where was Dracula?

"Are you okay miss? Did somebody attack you?", asked the fat security man with a bald head.

Cecile was then at Leanna's side kneeling down in the frigid night air, she took her hand, "Oh my God, Lea your hands are so so cold! And look at you...you are so pale"

"I don't remember, what's going on? Where's Dracula, we were just talking..."

Susie leaned down, coat tightly wrapped around her scanty clad dress, "you were on your own...I saw you faint...you fell like a sack of spuds"

Leanna tried to push herself up, but she was incredibly weak and felt ever-so giddy.

"I don't feel so good"

Cecile squeezed her hand, "I've called your Mum...she'll be here soon as you know it"

VV

Andrea was in a line of traffic. She honked her horn like others did, but the row of vehicles was not going anywhere. She reached for her iPhone and put it to her ear, "Cecile? Is she okay? Look, I'm gonna have to meet Lea at the hospital...I'm doing a U turn and will meet the ambulance there...okay?"

"okay"

"Jesus Christ this traffic...I'll meet the ambulance at the hospital...I'll see you soon and stay with her for me"

"I will"

Andrea hung off and beeped her horn again. She the did the U turn in the road and went down a side street.

She shivered. And it wasn't just the cold.

VV

Leanna was in hospital. The doctors had said that they couldn't find a reason for the blood loss...she had clearly lost a lot, but there didn't seem to be a source or wound.

"But it's my neck...my neck feels sore", she whined.

Andrea took her daughters hand and rubbed the back of it, "Lea...your neck is fine...there is nothing there...look"

She fished into her purse and pulled out her vanity mirror, her daughter took it and scrutinized her neck in it...one side and then the other.

"See...there's nothing"

Leanna looked concerned, "But...I...", she closed her eyes and could smell the scent of roses. Red roses. She was in some meadow was all peaceful and tranquil. She smiled, "I feel good Mum...I feel like...like I've just been to this beautiful place...he took me there and I felt so so safe with him..."

Andrea stared at her daughter and looked at her questioningly, "Who did? Who took you where, you are not making any sense?"

Leanna met her mothers eyes and smiled again, "it doesn't matter...I feel so much better"

Andrea could see that there was no longer a deathly pallor to her...that she was rosy red if anything. She then reached and touched the chain around her daughters neck, "When did you get this? I haven't seen it before"

Leanna grinned at her, "do you like it?"

"It's...well...something I wouldn't have thought was to your taste"

Leanna was coy, "It depends on who it came from..."

Andrea nodded. Leanna was acting very strange. And what of this blood loss? Just like the Westenra girl...was it a coincidence that this happened when she was researching the case?

"I'll be right back honey..."

VV

Andrea sat in the doctors office wanting answers. The doctor leaned back in his chair and said, "I just don't understand it Ms Darlington, your daughter comes into our Emergency department covered in so much blood and crying out that her neck hurts and now...on my last examination there appears to be nothing wrong with her"

"But there has to be!"

"No...", he took her chart, "BP okay, pulse normal, no sign whatsoever of any wound in any-way shape or form on her body..."

Andrea turned in her chair and then leaned forward, "Dr Morecroft...was you here when Lucy Westenra was brought in? She had these very same symptoms and died"

He smiled politely, "I cannot discuss other patients with you...alive or dead"

Andrea nodded.

VV

At home later, Andrea was looking at the folder Andy Allen had given her when he suggested this assignment. It had all the newspaper cuttings of the Lucy Westenra's death eight months previous.

She had to talk to Lucy's mother again...dammit she needed answers to so many questions...

"I won't let this lie...", she whispered to herself.

VV

...and at the same time in the hospital, Leanna reached out her hand and Count Dracula stepped forward and took it and smiled at her.

"I knew you would come..."

Dracula's smile faded slightly and held her eyes, "I'm always here..."

"Forever...?"

He gently brushed her cheek with his ice cold fingers, his tone of voice matter-of-fact.

"until I no longer have to be..."

VV

_I MET MY CONTACT TODAY IN A PUB OVER LOOKING THE RIVER THAMES. HE TOLD ME ABOUT WHAT HAPPENED AT THE JONATHAN HARKER FOUNDATION. THAT THE BEAST THAT WAS KEPT THERE WAS COUNT DRACULA - A 500 YEAR OLD VAMPIRE THAT HAD LAID DORMANT IN A SHIP WRECK BENEATH THE SEA FOR OVER TEN DECADES._

_HOWEVER ABSURD THIS SOUNDS TO ME, I FIND MYSELF BELIEVING HIM. HE TOLD ME COUNT DRACULA IS A MONSTER THAT SHOULD HAVE BEEN DESTROYED. BUT THE FOUNDATION WANTED HIM ALIVE IN ORDER TO GET A COMPLETE PROFILE OF HIS GENETIC MAKE UP...AS I ARRIVED HOME I FEEL CHILLED TO THE CORE._

_-ANDY ALLEN-_

VV

Andrea pulled the car next to the curb on Anderson Green Gardens and turned off the ignition. She looked ahead and saw that the street looked cold and depressing. She stepped out of the car and pulled her winter coat tighter around her neck. Her auburn hair blew in her face as the wind carried her along the pathway to the Westenra residence at 458.

The trees along the street were stripped bare of leaves and she noticed that most of them were dried and dead and whirled up in circles around lamp poles and gate posts. She looked up to see a pumpkin stare right at her from where it sat on the wall of the property next to the Westenra place.

It was Hallowe'en, how had she forgotten.

She went up to the front door to the Westenra residence and went to knock when she noticed that the door was on ajar.

"Mrs Westenra?"

She pushed the door inward and it creaked a tad. She peeked around the door and called out again, "Mrs Westenra?"

The House was dark and dank. It had been that way last time she had visited a week or so ago. The shutters where closed and the curtains were pulled shut.

She heard the rattle of glass and looked to the floor to see that she had knocked down a row of wine bottles.

She went through into the kitchen and the first thing she did was open the blind to let some light in. She gasped about her, the kitchen was a tip. There was weeks of unwashed-up crockery and cutlery and a basket of unwashed clothes sat on the table overflowing.

She felt like that she was being watched and called out, "Mrs Westenra is that you?"

She stepped back into the hall and went to the foot of the staircase. Looking up to the shadows above she could sense something not right.

"Mrs Westenra...are you up there? It's me...it's Andrea Darlington, I came to see you last week...remember?"

She swallowed down, licked her dry lips and started to climb the steps that creaked upon the way...

VV

At the Hospital, Cecile and Patrick had stopped by to visit Leanna.

"So...when did they say you could come out?", asked her best friend.

Leanna smiled and sat up, "tomorrow, but I feel fine now...I really do"

Cecile shuddered, "You gave us half a fright at club...you were covered in blood...what happened to you Lea?"

Leanna wasn't quite sure herself to be honest, but she put on a brave face, "I don't remember, to tell you the truth, that night is all a blur to me now"

Patrick picked off another grape and Cecile pushed his hand away, "Hey! They are for Lea not you..."

"Ohh I'm off to the bog"

They watched him go and then Cecile turned, "hey, you are gonna miss Susie from filings Hallowe'en party tonight...everyone from work is gonna be there"

Leanna looked so disappointed, "Ohhh I wanted to go! Look...I feel fine...maybe I can just discharge myself"

"Oh I don't know..."

"I feel fine! Never better"

Patrick was coming back from the toilet and Leanna smiled, "Help me get dressed...I'm gonna go with you two"

VV

Andrea looked about the bedroom that had belonged to Lucy Westenra. Her mother had kept it just so, so it seemed intrusive to go through drawers and stuff, but she knew she had to.

She found a diary in the top dresser. She picked it out and saw it had a lock on it.

"So where would she keep the key", she muttered to herself.

She looked around the drawer and the other drawers further down. Then she went and searched inside trinket trunks on the window ledge but there was no key to anything.

She sighed and pulled back the curtain further to see the black car parked on the opposite side of the street.

"Who the hell...?"

She raced down the stairs and went flying out of the front door only to see that there was no car parked in any way shape or form.

She scratched her head as the wind whipped up dry crispy leaves in her face.

"I'm going loopy", she muttered.

VV

Leanna had made it back to Cecile's central London flat and sat on the bed in a loose fitting top and hot pants.

"These are cool! So retro!"

Cecile called from the ensuite bathroom, "You can wear them if you want...maybe go as a mutant corpse from the 70s and have clawed your way up out of some grave.."

Leanna nodded as the idea formed in mind, "Yeah...I can rub some dirt in it all and have real cobwebby hair and stuff"

Cecile came out of the bathroom with a towel around her, "Yeahhh this party is gonna be so much fun!"

She sat down next to her on the bed and turned, "Are you sure you are okay? You seem a little pale"

Leanna shook her head, "I'm fine! Look...what are you going as anyway...?"

"The human centipede...have you seen that movie, it's grose, but Patrick said we can be bound together all night"

"Oh right..."

"You don't like Patrick much, do you?"

Leanna shrugged, "He's okay I suppose...but...his poor wife...she's got no idea he's cheating on her...and he...", she stopped herself.

"He what?"

He touched me up. But Leanna didn't say that, she thought it, "He's just a guy and guys are so stupid"

"But fun though...what about whathisname? The one you've been seeing but we all never see...foreign name"

Leanna turned away from her and smiled to herself and smelt his wonderful aftershave that wafted around her and found herself toying with the chain around her neck, "Ohhh he'll be there...I know he will..."

VV

At the hospital, Andrea parked the car in the carpark and reached across to the passenger seat and picked up Lucy Westenra's diary. She figured she would have to break the lock open when she got home.

She stowed it away in the glove compartment under the dashboard and exited the car and crossed the windy carpark towards the main entrance to the hospital.

VV

At the same time, her daughter Leanna was ready for the hallo'ween party at Susie's place. The music was loud and cool. The alcohol flowed and it wasn't long before there was a magic glaze about her leaving her lite and felt like she could just about to anything.

Cecile dropped a bottle in the bin and turned to see Leanna with her eyes tightly shut and swaying to the beat. Patrick came to her side and laughed, "She is well gone...she's downed at least 4 bottles of hooch already! She is going for it"

Cecile shook her head, "She's not herself...we shouldn't off let her come with us...she should have stayed in the hospital"

Patrick laughed, "But it was her idea! And besides, you were all for it, having a good ol'time here at the party...she looks okay to me!"

"But you touched her up..."

Cecile was rocked by the words that flew out of her mouth. It was her voice that uttered them, but where on earth did the notion come from? Patrick making a move on Leanna...?

Patrick laughed it off and called over to his friend Martin from football, sat on the stairs with his hand down Susie's top, his face was painted green in an effort to look like the mask,

"Hey Marty...she thinks I've tried to make a move on Leanna...what the fuck!"

Martin looked at him, "Yeah? But you are cheating on your wife so it's not that hard to believe...hey Suse?"

Susie grabbed his crotch tightly through his blue jeans and shouted out "I want that FUCKING COCK IN ME now!"

Patrick laughed out loud as Martin was dragged up the stairs, Susie was ripped out off her snow white outfit when they reached the top stair.

Leanna came forward to Cecile, "hey what's up?"

Cecile glared at her, everybody from the office in the living room was looking at them and sniggering and whispering.

"WHY DIDN'T YOU TELL ME? WHY DIDN'T YOU TELL ME PATRICK CAME ON TO YOU?"

Leanna was shocked, "Huh? He told you? I don't understand...he only put his hand on my bum"

Patrick grabbed Cecile and slapped her so hard, she went flying to the glass bookcase facade. Some girl screamed. A couple of guys came forward and restrained Patrick. His fists were balled.

Cecile had cuts on her arm, Leanna laughed and turned and caught a waft of his aftershave.

And Dracula was there standing in the hall with his arm outstretched to her.

All the shouting in the room went silent around her as Leanna stepped forward and took his icy hand.

He was truly godlike. Dressed in a smart black suit, unbuttoned collar and gelled back hair, that hung to one side. His shiny boots almost glided on the lacquered floor of the hall.

She stared into his dark eyes and he smiled at her keeping that gaze held...

Patrick went up to her, "did you tell her...why for fuck sake?"

Leanna felt hazy and dazed and excused herself. Dracula looked down at him, Patrick glared at him, "What the fuck are you looking at?"

Dracula smiled at him, "I smell gypsy"

Patrick was caught off guard. Fuck those eyes. He seems lost in those dark pools, "I...I have ancestors who were gypsies, we originated from Romania...how do you know?"

Dracula's eyes narrowed at him and he leaned forward, "I can smell the rancid gypsy stench that is running through your veins"

"RUDE!"

Patrick felt like smacking him one, but his head was filled with all this vile stuff. Darkness and death. He clawed his way down the hallway with vivid visions of mock laughter and gypsy folk who were screaming in terror and the fires and burning pain. A young Gypsy boy hanging with his throat cut.

Leanna approached Dracula and looked up to his dark eyes, "He's a creep...shall we get out of here?"

Dracula raised his brow and took her hand and lead out out to the hallway.

VV

"BUT SHE IS SICK! SHE SHOULDN'T BE OUT OF THE HOSPITAL!"

Andrea was outraged when she learned of her daughter fleeing the hospital with her two works friends. The medics were all too apologetic but she didn't have time to scold at them now, she had to get home and bring her back.

She ran back to her car and put her foot down onto the gas. The sky had turned dark and there was lightening on the horizon.

She felt a closing feeling around her. Like she was being suffocated. She negotiated the traffic ahead and pulled into the next street. The glove compartment door under the dash flipped open and the diary jumped onto the seat next to her...she peered down and saw that it was open and there was writing scrawled across both pages.

SHE IS MINE...

Andrea screeched around the corner into her street and saw that her house was shrouded in darkness. Just the eerie glow of a pumpkin on the porch of the neighbouring property...

...and at Susie's house a few blocks away, at the same time, Leanna was on the arm of Dracula.

The man in her dreams. The mysterious figure who seems to reek of old time.

And she turned to see the black car approach and steady to a stop opposite the drive.

Andrea had searched the house and seeing that it was empty, she drove by Cecile's flat and saw the black car on the opposite side of the street where a party was going on.

It was the black car that too her eye. The black car parked on the curb and Leanna on the arm of a mature man in his 40s. A man that looked up and noticed her straight away and grinned at her with dark cold eyes.

And Leanna slipped in the back seat of the black car, the man followed and then it drove off...

...Just as the diary on the passenger seat burst into flames.

Andrea looked aghast at the diary in flames. She tried to open the door but it was locked. Jammed somehow. She managed to lower the window and threw the smoldering remains of the diary into the street.

VV

Leanna was impressed with the upholstery of the black car. She revelled in the red satin lining, "This is cool...is it your limo?"

Dracula sat beside with an arm around her, he pulled her closer, "Mmmmm it's mine...a company car if you like...", he met her eyes, "...but with out of hours amenities"

Leanna laughed and leaned forward to knock on the tinted glass to the driver, "who's the driver?"

Dracula laughed and stopped her, "stop it or you'll offend him...he likes girls like you, you wouldn't want him to get an obsession, now would you?"

Leanna was trapped by those eyes. A spiders web. She breathed out a small sigh, "I can hear my heart beating"

Dracula nodded, "do can I"

She laughed, "they all think I'm weird you know...for seeing an older guy"

Dracula looked lustful at her neck and then at her eyes, "I can do weird..."

Leanna was swimming in the thick stench of darkness. She couldn't see or say anything. Her eyes were glued shut. Her mouth was also. She felt like she floating in the thick black sludge that turned red. Blood red. Dark eyes and sharp teeth and pain.

But she liked it too...

VV

Andrea got home and tossed her car keys in the bowl. She tried to fathom out what had happened that evening. Where the hell was Leanna? Why in Gods name did she get into the car? Who was that guy? Or...

She picked up her iPhone and scrolled down to Andy Allen's number and called...

VV

_ANDREA CALLED AND TOLD ME ABOUT HER DAUGHTER. AND OF WHAT HAPPENED TO LUCY WESTENRA'S DIARY. I IN TURN TOLD HER ABOUT MY MEETING WITH MY CONTACT. I TOLD HER THAT COUNT DRACULA IS A VAMPIRE AND HAD BEEN KEPT CAGED UP AT THE JONATHAN HARKER FOUNDATION. I THOUGHT SHE WOULD HAVE TOOK THE MICK OUT OF ME, BUT WITH ALL WHAT WAS HAPPENING TO HER, SHE DIDN'T DOUBT IT._

_SHE ASKED ABOUT THE CONNECTION WITH LUCY WESTENRA, AND I TOLD HER IT APPEARS THAT SHE USED TO DATE A JACK SEWARD WHO WORKED THERE, AND HE THINKS DRACULA STOLE HIS iPHONE...LUCY'S ENCOUNTER WASN'T JUST PURE RANDOM. DRACULA HAD SOUGHT HER OUT..._

_-ANDY ALLEN-_

VV

Andrea was at her wits end. Could the occupant of the black car be this Count Dracula. And if he is, was this...this Vampire...have Leanna in his monstrous sights.

She tried to call Leanna all evening. Voicemail every time.

What if she called the police? Would they take her seriously? After all, Leanna was twenty. Still young to her, but a fully grown adult according to the law.

Her bedroom seemed to close in on her. All she could feel was a sense of doom she couldn't shrug off.

She laid back on her bed with tears in her eyes. Tears of blood.

And when she did finally start to drift to sleep...she had dreams that were haunted by her daughters screams.


	9. The Brooding beast - part 3

_A/N: Here's part 3 to this story, I do hope people are reading? If you are enjoy :)_

Andrea Darlington was desperate. Leanna had been gone all night. And God knows what's happened to her.

She drank her morning tea and tried Leanna's number again. Voicemail. She swallowed the rest of the tea including the dregs, and then chucked the mug into the washing up bowl, and grabbed up her coat and keys.

There could be a rational reason for all of this. Maybe, just maybe, Leanna had stayed over with Cecile or one of her other friends. She decided to call in at Leanna's work.

At the sales office in the city, Cecile shook her head as they came out of the elevator, "She didn't stay over no...why? What's happened?"

Andrea was getting agitated now, "She never came home from the party...when I reached your place, I saw her leaving with an older man in a black car. Did she say to you where she was heading to?"

Cecile shook her head as they reached the foyer of the office, "No she didn't"

"She's still not right, she should NEVER of discharged herself from the hospital"

"I know that...but she said she was okay"

Andrea headed to the exit steps and turned, "just call me if she turns up...oh, does this older man have a name?"

Cecile nodded, "Yeah...really weird name...Count Dracula"

Andrea gasped and ran for the doors...

VV  
Her head was in a whirl as she hurried back to her car that she found was clamped.

"Agggahh!"

She scratched her head and ran for the Underground. On the tube train she was starting to sweat. All she could think about was Lucy Westenra's fate. Was that her daughters fate too?

She made it back to her office and hurried into the editors suite, "Mr Randell?"

Julia, his secretary shook her head as she tidied her boss's desk, "Sorry Andrea, he's in meeting across town all day"

"Where's Andy?"

"Andy Allen? He said he was meeting someone...", Andrea didn't let her finish and ran for Andy's desk in the main office. She looked around for any clues where this meeting was. Nothing. She grabbed her iPhone and pressed call. Voicemail.

"Andy, it's Andrea...call me when you get this, I think I'm in it up to my neck!"

VV

Andrea got home and sat straight down and was on her phone. She typed in the Dr Zoe Van Helsing. She saw her picture and links to the Jonathan Harker foundation that was no longer in operation.

The link lead to nowhere.

She had to speak to this Van Helsing woman. Andy had told her that she was of some authority there. If somebody knew Count Dracula, then she did...

Her iPhone rang. She gasped when she saw that it was Leanna calling, "Oh thank God! Leanna?"

The voice was not hers.

"Is that Andrea?"

"Yes...who is this?"

"Oh come now...I think you know who I am..."

Andrea was shaking. She was hot and cold all at the same time. Her heart was racing, "Count Dracula...?"

"Yes...I must say, you really have been very busy today with all your research...I only thought it fair to call you, it saves you all the stress of finding me"

Dracula's voice was deep and masculine. It had a dark edge to it but at the very same time, seductive as well.

"Where is Leanna? What have you done with her?"

"She is safe...don't fret, I haven't killed her, yet...but I have put her somewhere for safe keeping...I want to talk to you..."

Andrea was getting worried, "talk? Where are you, I'll right over if you..."

"No no...I'll send a car for you Andrea...a nice big black car...", he chuckled, "...you're recognise it when it arrives, you've seen it so many times..."

Andrea was sweating, "When? WHEN COUNT DRACULA?"

"Sun down...be ready", and the Count hung up.

VV

At sun down, Andrea stood in the doorway of her house. She glanced at her watch. She looked up to the darkening sky. The oranges and reds of sunset fading to blues and blacks of night.

The wind picked up as she looked around to see a car come around the corner. It is slow and ominous. The head lights bright and blinding. There is a strange mist swirling about the vehicle and the haze hugs the street lamps. She slowly walked across the wet grass towards the car. The back door swings open.

Andrea swallowed down. She was cold and it wasn't the night chill. She peered in through the open door of the car to see an empty back seat. Who had opened the door?

The inside was plush. It was all red satin and had a rich aura to it. She slid in and closed the door. She realised she couldn't see out of the windows. There was a tint that didn't allow to look out.

In a brief moment of panic her hand went for the door release. But the door was locked.

The vehicle was on the move. It was quiet and smooth. She wanted to see where it was taking her, but with the tinted windows she hadn't a even a clue.

She looked to see if there was a window winder, or control, but there was none she could see. She sat back and closed her eyes. She had to compose herself. This was the car she had seen Leanna get in to. It was the very last time she saw her. Funny, but it was a comfort to know that.

By the movement of the car, she knew it turned left twice and right three times. There must have been a roundabout too. Then a pause. A slight judder and a ramp.

She swallowed down again and reached into her purse for her iPhone. No signal.

Looking from the screen, she realised the car had come to a stop. And the door opened.

Feeling somewhat relieved that the journey was over, she was glad to be out and...

She looked around her. She was in a vast underground car-park. The car was sitting there quietly behind her and she couldn't see the driver inside.

She frowned and looked about the area. There was no other vehicles in the car-park.

"Andrea...welcome"

She swung around at the voice, because it made her jump, and saw that a mature man in his 40's or so, dressed in a dark smart suit was standing beside her.

She recognised him. It was him Leanna had gone with.

"Where is she? Where is my daughter?"

Dracula smiled at her and cocked his head, "Well, talk about getting straight to the point...please, be my guest and follow me to my apartment"

She followed him to an elevator. Her heels clicking echoed around the car park, "Was it you driving the car?"

Dracula looked at her and chuckled, "Alas, no...I don't have a licence"

The Elevator doors opened and they entered, Dracula met her gaze, "Oh come now...what is with the fear in your eyes, I haven't done anything to unsettle you, have I?"

"My daughter...I am worried about her"

Dracula sighed and shrugged, "yes, you must be...don't worry, she hasn't come to any undue harm...well, not yet anyway", and he ended with a chuckle.

The doors to the elevator opened and Dracula ushered his arm out in a kind gesture, "ladies first"

Andrea entered the apartment. She gazed about her in awe. It was dark. But there seemed to a light source that wasn't evident. She could clearly see around her. The plush smooth walls, the laminated flooring, the black ornate sideboards with attire on them that seemed to be made of pure gold. Jugs, bowls, goblets and other trinkets that wouldn't have looked out of place in an eastern European palace.

Dracula smiled and parted his arms, "What do you think? I rarely invite company"

Andrea turned around, "is she here"

Dracula was amused, "who?"

"You KNOW who!"

"Ohhhhh Leanna...", he moved to a long table and rested his hands to his chest, "...no...well, not quite"

Andrea was getting flustered, "tell me where she is!"

Dracula sighed and turned around to focus on her, "Oh please...don't plead...it makes you sound very off putting...okay...the delectable Leanna...she is...what I can only can describe to you...in stasis"

Andrea was blank faced, "Stasis?" she repeated.

Dracula nodded, "Yes...she will remain there until I deem fit to free her...but you must do something for me first", he approached her with his hands in his pockets and looked down at her, "that's how I decided how this will work...you do something for me...and I will give her back to you"

She swallowed. Those eyes were so dark, "do...do what?"

Dracula shrugged and paced about the room as he spoke, "there is a woman I want...her name is Zoe Van Helsing. When the Johnny Harker Foundation was finished, she disappeared from the radar as you say, nobody seems to know where she is"

Andrea clutched her forehead, she felt dazed, "You seem to know everything...haven't you got resources to find her yourself?"

Dracula nodded, "normally I would...but when someone shuts off their mind to me...then no, it's much more difficult...she knows how I work, that's why she's been clever enough to close her mind to me"

For Andrea, the questions came natural to her, "how?"

Dracula looked to the ceiling, "lets just say she has somebody who can help her do that...someone from my past, I won't explain, it is all very complicated for your tiny little mind to comprehend"

Andrea shook her head, "so, what makes you think I will be able to find her?"

Dracula chuckled, "you are a journalist...isn't part of your job description to go and snooping around and asking questions..."

"Yes"

"Then I'm confident enough that you can ask the right questions to the right people...you will find Dr Van Helsing and when you do, you will inform me...and then...you can have your daughter back, it really is a simple little contract don't you think?", he grinned at her.

Andrea nodded.

Dracula slapped his hands together, "So! You still haven't said what you think about my place..."

Andrea glazed about, "there are no windows..."

"windows to look on a view that I cannot see? I have no need of them"

"Mirrors?"

"Vanity can be so self indulgent...and reflections are over rated"

Dracula put his lips together thinking and looked at her, he reached out his hand to her, "come with me...I will take you somewhere very interesting"

"Where..."

"please...humour me...you won't be disappointed...or you need to do is take my hand"

Andrea swallowed down. She slowly raised her hand and intwined with his fingers. His nails were sharp, his skin so ice cold.

She swirled. She closed her eyes and she felt like she was floating. There was visions of the moon and the stars and the whispers of a thousand voices.

She opened her eyes and stood on an open plain. It was all glittery and mind bending. She swung around and saw Dracula sitting in a smoking jacket examining a chess set on a small ornate table. She looked down at herself, she was somehow wearing a flowing red gown.

"How I love you in red", Dracula's voice echoed on the plain, and not looking up. Andrea came forward, or floated. it was like walking on air.

"What is this place? Am I dreaming?"

Dracula looked up to her, "You are on the mortal plain. The gateway of so many choices and mortal desires"

He stood and put his arm around her and pointed to the beyond, "There...look...see how the fires burn in reds and oranges and yellows. It is the sunlight. Life. love. And all what humans trust...", he turned her around, "...and see the distant darkness over there...the night...death. hate. And all what humans fear..."

Andrea was drawn to the darkness, Dracula was watching her with interest, "the darkness...the darkness will engulf, trap you...a chilled gloom that will drain your life...held in it's icy grip until eternity..."

She couldn't take her eyes away and didn't know why. She breathed hard. And she squinted in the darkness to see the firing form of a figure. She gasped, was it Leanna? No. It was someone else. She could see a nun. A nun that was burning. She was screaming in sheer terror, but the fires were not hurting her, she was just trapped by them.

She broke eye contact and looked at Dracula, "Who is it?"

Dracula was busy with his chess pieces, "Who is what?"

"That nun? She burning..."

He chuckled and turned around to face her, "Andrea...there is no nun"

She swung around and there was nothing but darkness.

"Will you do it? Will you honour the contract I offer...Van Helsing for your daughter...?"

Andrea was swirling again. She was blinded by stars and the moon. There seemed to be laughter and screaming all around her...but his voice was over and above all that pain.

"WILL YOU DO IT?"

"YES! OKAY!...I will...just as long you keep her safe and no harm comes to her"

She drifted through the fog, "you have my word...", he said.

VV

The screaming hurt her head. She felt like she was up and down on a rollarcoaster. She closed her eyes shut.

And then there was a sense of calmness.

"Open them...open your eyes Andrea"

She did, and she was looking up at her house. She gasped out loud and looked down at herself. She was back in her coat and shoes. She turned to see the black car on the curb and Count Dracula standing there, "you will find my number in your phone. Call me when you find Van Helsing"

Dracula turned to leave. but Andrea cried out to him, "How did I get back here? I don't remember being in the car"

Dracula cocked his eyebrows.

"Tell me...am I going mad?"

He smirked at her and was about to get into the back seat when she ran to him, "So many questions Count Dracula...who was she? Who was the nun?"

Dracula had settled in the back seat and looked at her in the car doorway, he was still smirking, "Andrea...there is- no- nun..."

And the door sprang shut and the car moved away and disappeared into a cloud of fog that seemed to have wafted in out of nowhere.

She turned around and scrambled into her purse for her door keys, She found them and let herself into her house and closed the door after her.

VV

_I HAVE JUST eMAILED ANDREA A CONTACT NUMBER FOR JACK SEWARD. IF ANYONE WAS TO KNOW OF DR VAN HELSINGS WHEREABOUTS IT WOULD BE HIM. I FEAR FOR ANDREA'S LIFE - WILL DRACULA GIVE HER DAUGHTER BACK TO HER IF SHE GIVES VAN HELSING TO HIM? TO BE HONEST, I FEAR NOT..._

_-ANDY ALLEN-_

VV

Andrea didn't get a wink of sleep. She had tossed and turned all night thinking over and over whether she would really see her daughter again.

From her unmade bed, she reached for her iPhone and looked at the pad with Jack Seward's mobile phone number scribbled on.

She looked to the mirror on her dresser, just as an icy shiver came over her. She swore she saw Dracula grinning back at her in it. But no. She blinked and it was just her own disgruntled just got out of bed image.

She called Jack. It answered, "_Hello_...?"

"Jack Seward?"

_"Who is this...how did you get my number?"_

"Mr Seward, my name is Andrea Darlington. I'm a journalist from the London Journal and I..."

_"...I am not answering any questions..."_

Scared he would just hang up, Andrea went for it, "Count Dracula has my daughter..."

There was a pause, then he said, "_then I am very sorry...but there is nothing I can do"_

"Sorry! How can you say that when it was you and your friends that brought him back to this world..."

"_even so..."_

"YOU are responsible...will you at least met me...please...I beg you, for my daughters sake"

VV

It was a sharp sunny day on the river Thames, as the rays reflected from the water onto the boat. there was a autumn haze and chill that made it necessary to where a good winter coat to ward off the cold.

Andrea sat in her sunglasses to keep back the low sun, she turned from watching the people in conversation around her and towards Jack Seward who came back from the small inside bar with two Brandys to keep them warm.

The wind ruffled his hair as he put the tray down and he pulled his white scarf tighter around him as he sat down.

"Why here? On a boat?"

Jack looked at her, "Vampire's fear running water"

Andrea nodded and looked up to the sun, "and the daylight..."

"Even so"

Andrea thought it best to get straight down to business, "Me Seward, HE took my daughter"

"there is nothing I can do...I did tell you on the phone"

Andrea picked up her small glass of brandy and put it to her lips, the wind gently caught her hair, "you used to date Lucy Westenra...?"

Jack met her eyes, somewhat caught off guard, "yes..."

"Did you know, HE killed her too"

Jack laughed without humour. He glanced towards the houses of Parliament that they were currently passing by, and looked back to her, "she isn't dead...she's UNdead...like him"

This was news to her, "you've seen her?"

Jack leaned back in the chair as some tourist was trying to take some snaps on her phone at the landmarks they passed by, "I have...", he said, lowering his voice, "...I usually have to fend her off with a cross when she visits my window at night"

The thought of that remark sent a shiver down Andrea's spine, "is that my daughters fate too...?"

"Is that what he told you?"

She nodded still cupping her brandy glass, "he says...she is in stasis, whatever that means"

Jack suddenly looked very interested in what she had to say, and deep down she had an inkling that he would be, "Andrea...powerful Vampires like Count Dracula have abilities that go beyond our mortal conceptions - they go above all of that - apart of our work at the foundation was to find out more of how he does it..."

Andrea hazarded a guess, "mind control? Hallucinations? Because he took me there"

Jack's eyes snapped up wide, "he did?"

Andrea nodded, "yes...and I can damn well tell you, I don't ever want to go back there"

Jack's interest was keen, he wanted to know what her experiences of it were, "It must be fascinating though"

Andrea knew his game, as a journalist of more than 20 years, she knew peoples reactions, "says the scientist in you? I don't care about all of that Mr Seward, I just want Leanna back...", now for the crunch, "...and HE promised me he will..."

Jack swallowed down, he had a very bad feeling about all of this, "for what...?"

Andrea came out and said it, "he wants Dr Van Helsing"

He shook his head, "no"

Andrea was astounded by that, "why not? SHE has a responsibility, SHE brought him back"

Jack thought that unfair and said so, "it wasn't her...yes the foundation did...his resurrection was more by accident rather than by design...SHE wanted him locked up...SHE knew how dangerous he was"

Andrea shook her head and glanced towards the water. The sunlight made it sparkle even with all this gloom hanging over them. She looked at him, "SHE has closed her mind to him"

Jack wasn't surprised to hear that, "She said she would"

"You've seen her then?"

"Yes...but I am not about to tell you"

Andrea was disgusted with him, "well, THANK YOU...for signing my daughters death warrant"

She started to gather up her things. It was more she could do rather than getting Jack my the scruff of his neck and throwing overboard.

He watched her and took her arm, "did HE really take you there? I think he calls it the mortal plain...we spoke about it when he was still at the foundation...what was it like?"

Andrea stared down at him, shocked at the audacity, then it all clicked into place, it was something Andy had told her, "what? Oh I get it...this is about your book..."

"What?"

"My colleague at the journal told me...he has contacts everywhere you know...he told me about you writing a book about your experiences with Count Dracula"

Jack knew he had been rumbled, "please...so few people have been there and survived...please tell me what it was like...I NEED to know"

Andrea could see the boat was heading back to dock, she sat down and looked at him, "then, it's a simple contract Mr Seward, I'll tell you...I'll describe where he took me and my feelings there...of what I saw...and in return...you will give me Van Helsing...", she held out her hand to him, "...do we have a deal?"


	10. The Brooding beast - part 4

_There was a lot going on at the beach. Dr Zoe Van Helsing approached the dark figure that waded out of the cold waters of the North Sea. The spotlight from the noisy helicopter over head had the suspect in it's halo. The stranger to these foreign shores looked somewhat bewildered at first, but then began to slowly understand that he had laid dormant for so long._

_"Welcome to England, Count Dracula...", called out Zoe over the noise. Armed men and women were around her._

_Her hair was blowing in her face. But the din of the helicopter was fading into the background. Her smile of greeting slighted, there was something wrong..._

_"Why have you brought me back here?", she cried._

_Dracula was soaking wet and looking straight at her in the spotlight, "because you think about me"_

_She shook her head at him, "I don't"_

_Count Dracula laughed at her as he approached, "Dr Zoe Van Helsing...reading a book...Pride and Prejudice? I have no idea what the reading is about, but you seem to be captivated by one chapter..."_

_Zoe shook her head, why couldn't she hear the helicopter...where had all the armed guards gone?_

_He ran a hand through his wet hair and across his face as he stopped in front of her on the sand, "I...coming out of the water all soaking wet...you standing there now...looking up to me...staring into my eyes as I stare into yours..."_

_Zoe was paralyzed, she looked to his face, the wet hair, the grin, the strong arms, the wet shirt clinging to his masculine body, "stop this...", she whispered, barely an utter._

_"Stop what?"_

_"This! Get out of my head"_

_Dracula was amused as he tilted his head, "now, who is to say I am in your head...you could just as easily be in mine"_

_She shook her head vigorously, "Impossible!"_

_He breathed hard and moved his face closer to hers, dark eyes pooling, "you're trembling...", he whispered._

_"It's cold"_

_Closer..._

_"I'm cold"_

_Closer..._

_"So..."_

_Too close_

_"You want me..."_

_A tear fell down her cheek, "No"_

_Lips barely apart, the salt water she could now taste, "then stop me..."_

Zoe Van Helsing opened her eyes...it was a dream, just for a moment there, she thought he had found her. That he had over come her mind block to him.

She looked up to the clock above the cooker, and stood, she would be here soon...

VV

Andrea Darlington approached the room and knocked on the door. She could hear movement inside and then a multitude of locks and bolts. The door opened.

A some what gaunt face looked out to her. Eyes rather sunken and inflicted with dark rings.

Andrea broke the silence by clearing her throat, "...Dr Van Helsing?"

She nodded and pulled Andrea inside and locked up the door again. Andrea watched her with a forming frown, "isn't that to the extreme?"

"Is Jack with you?"

Her tone of voice was decidedly desperate coming from a scientist.

Andrea nodded, "No...he gave me the address...he told you?"

Zoe shook her head, "Yes...he told me...", she went to the window and peeped out the blind, "was you followed?"

"No"

Andrea looked about the room, it was one room, with a sofa-bed, a kitchen and a side bathroom. It was gloomy too with the blind down.

"Good...if they found out about me...they'll want it"

"Want what?"

Zoe's hair was lank on her face as she looked at her through the dim light, "It doesn't matter...only Jack knows, and he said he'd keep me safe from them"

Andrea shook her head thinking she understood her, "You mean Count Dracula?"

Zoe pulled her robe around her and shook her head, "No...not HIM...them...the society that created the foundation...they want their hands on it..."

Andrea bit her lip. How ever much all this was riveting as it was, she wanted to talk to her about Leanna.

"Dr Van Helsing, Count Dracula has my daughter"

Zoe shook her head as she stood in the shadows, "I know...Jack explained everything"

The journalist was somewhat relieved that she didn't have to go into it from the start, "Then he would have told you about Dracula wanting you...in exchange for my daughter"

The scientist looked at her, she shook her head and turned her back to her, "I can't help you...if I get followed then they will snatch me...they can't have HIM so they will take the very next best thing..."

Andrea was becoming concerned, "But you have to help her...you can do that"

"I'm so very sorry"

Andrea strode up to her, "why not? What is there to stop me from bringing him here..."

Zoe looked up to the wooden cross on the wall and closed her eyes, she had tears on her cheeks that glistened in the sheer gloom.

She met Andrea's eyes, "I must tell you something...then I hope you will understand...it was all about 9 months ago..."

VV

_FOR ME...FALLING FOR HIM WAS THE PROBLEM...MY BIGGEST MISTAKE..._

_I COULDN'T BELIEVE WE HAD COUNT DRACULA WITH US. A 500 YEAR OLD VAMPIRE. HE WAS THERE FOR US TO EXAMINE AND LEARN FROM. AT LAST WE COULD GET THE GENETIC PROFILE OF A VAMPIRE'S MAKE UP. SO MANY MYSTERIES THAT WOULD AT LAST UNFOLD FROM THE FABLED UN-DEAD._

_HE WAS NOT AMUSED AT FIRST. HE FELT LIKE SOME DISPLAY EXHIBIT IN A VICTORIAN FREAK SHOW, BUT I THINK HE WAS TAKEN BY ME. THE BLOODLINE MORE THAN ANYTHING..._

_HE FELT RELAXED WITH ME, AND INDEED I FELT RELAXED WITH HIM. THE REASON I THINK IS BECAUSE HE KNEW I WAS POISONOUS TO HIM. A TABOO._

_AS I SAID...MY BIGGEST MISTAKE WAS FALLING FOR HIM. IT WAS UNNERVING TO SAY THE LEAST, BUT IT SEEMED NATURAL TO BE ATTRACTED TO THE UNNATURAL, I KNEW HOW DANGEROUS HE WAS. I KNEW THAT HE WAS THE DEVIL HIMSELF. BUT WHEN YOU SPENT HOURS AND HOURS TALKING TO HIM AND GETTING ALL THAT RESEARCH, YOU GET TO KNOW THE PERSON, OR THE BEAST IN THIS INSTANCE._

_I WAS AWARE OF MY FEELINGS AND I THINK HE WAS TOO, THE FIRST TIME WAS WHEN I TOOK HIS BLOOD SAMPLE FOR US TO PERFORM AN ANALYSIS ON..._

_Through the glass, Dracula watched Zoe approach with a kidney bowl. In it was a blood collection tube and syringe," You want to take a blood sample from me? So you have volunteered to come in here yourself?"_

_Zoe met his gaze and simply smiled, "I think I am the only here one who is safe from you"_

_Dracula was highly mused, "safe? You think? I may not be able to drink your blood, Zoe, but I can always instead slit open your neck with my fingernail"_

_A technician nearby operated a control and the skylight moved across on the ceiling, that let the bright rays of sunshine flood the entry area of the cell, "is that what you intend to do?"_

_"I haven't decided...come in here and then I'll decide...", goaded the Vampire with a keen smirk._

_Zoe glanced up towards the sunshine as she keyed in the entry code to enter the cell, "sorry...but we can't afford to take the chance of you running out on us"_

_Dracula had backed away, his feet were just on the other side of the line of sunshine and shade in the cell, "not at all..."_

_"give me your arm..."_

_Dracula raised it to her, and she took hold of him and looked for a suitable vein,"your touch is very gentle, Zoe..."_

_"I can't find a vein"_

_Dracula looked at her and wanted to be helpful, "allow me...", with his razor sharp finger nail, he cut into his wrist vein and as the droplets of blood fell from the open wound in the vein, Zoe quickly put the blood bottle beneath, and in line to collect the red serum._

_When she had all she needed, she capped it,"there...all done"_

_Dracula smiled and leaned into her, his chin was very close to the side of her head, "yes...how close we are Zoe..."_

_"You can't drink me...", she reminded him with a sigh._

_He chuckled and raised his eyebrows at her playfully,"Maybe it's not drinking I have in mind..."_

_Zoe was somewhat flushed and backed away, feeling conscious of how close together they were standing,"sorry...?"_

_"Is that what they call blushing...", he inquired tilting his head._

_Zoe looked agitated, "Stop it"_

_He held her eyes. Those dark alluring eyes were smiling at her, "You in the presence of somebody dark and exciting...somebody who makes your heart beat accelerate and makes your cheeks go red"_

_Zoe was feeling all of that. A feeling so many women had felt when falling into those eyes over the 500 years of his sorry dark life, "Enough..."_

_Dracula raised his hand in an apology and stood back,"Your wish is my command"_

_Zoe made sure the cell was all coded locked and stood there looking at him with the kidney bowl in her grasp, the skylight was closing and Dracula came forward to the glass and put is hands flat to it and stared at her, "right, that will be all for today, Count Dracula..."_

_"Always a pleasure to talk to you Zoe..."_

_She turned on her heel only to see something leaning up nearby on the wall,"Oh, I was meaning to show you something..."_

_Dracula frowned, "and what is that?"_

_She picked up the something that was a picture, "over our various conversations and things you have told me, I thought you might appreciate this..."_

_Dracula had already guessed what she was holding, "a painting? Of whom? Do I know the artist? I knew many...well, that's before I killed them of course"_

_Zoe slowly turned the painting around to face him, "there"_

_The painting was of a young woman in a embroidered ruby red dress. She adorned a tiara and her eyes sparkled even though the woman they belonged to died many many decades before._

_Dracula's eyes landed on the painting and he blew out a sad sigh, "Valeria...why do you torment me?"_

_Zoe studied his reactions carefully, taking mental notes. His eyes didn't leave the painting, "I'm sorry, I thought it would bring you comfort...this modern world you have found yourself in must be very unnerving to you Count Dracula"_

_He swallowed, "by showing me a portrait of someone I...admired..."_

_She swore she could see longing in those dark eyes, whether it was for the girl or the time when the girl lived, was up for debate, "So you do 'feel' then?"_

_He looked up at her. His face giving Zoe the feeling that she should have know that, "Of course I feel..."_

_She looked down at the painting she held, "Her body still rests in the shipwreck of the Demeter"_

_"still?"_

_"Forever"_

_Dracula met her eyes, "she was 18 in that canvas...the age when I first met her...she never wanted to grow old, I sensed her fear, I also sensed she knew that I could stop her from aging...stop her from dying...I really wanted to make that happen for her...her's was a flavour that was remarkably special..."_

_Zoe shrugged, "but you killed her"_

_Dracula shrugged back at her, "over 40 years later...by then she was a fine vintage...still the best I tasted...dear sweet Valeria..she loved to dance you know"_

_Dracula visioned himself and Valeria dancing in some old fort nearly two centuries ago. Zoe somehow envisaged herself dancing with him in Valeria's place. She shuddered._

_"It's late...I'll see you tomorrow"_

_Dracula watched her put the portrait down and went to leave, "You look tired Zoe...do the others know of your infliction"_

_Zoe looked about just in case others could hear, "No...and you will not tell them"_

_Dracula raised his eyebrows at her, "my lips are sealed..."_

VV

Andrea looked at her, "Your infliction?"

Zoe nodded, "I had Cancer...but I am in remission"

"You said...you had to let him go..."

Zoe nodded, "Yes...Dracula was more resourceful than we thought...I only heard about this after he left us..."

VV

_Count Dracula had been held up in this cell for five days. He looked up from the iPad tablet he had been given, and watched as the cleaner was at work. He chuckled, "I really like you Sabrina...you talk to me like I am not a laboratory experiment"_

_Sabrina was a girl in her late twenties. She had cleaned for the Foundation for a few years. Not the most glamorous of jobs, but it brought home a wage._

_She cleaned outside of his glass with a sponge, "I like you...but I cannot always make you out. I hear them, the scientists I mean, they say you've got all these weird and wonderful powers, but you do not use them"_

_Dracula smiled at her, "you mean by keying in the combination on that lock? 1971...I know the number, but I cannot get out to put it in"_

_"You cannot reach through glass..."_

_Dracula shrugged, like he was thinking about it, "Normally I could...but this isn't real glass...I don't know what it , but whatever it is, it's deliberate enough to stop me from getting out"_

_Sabrina threw her sponge into the bucket and sighed at him, "It must be against the law...they can't keep you all cooped up like this, surely Vampires have rights"_

_Dracula's interest was jolted, "rights?_

_"Yes...everybody has rights...you know, it's all about being diverse nowadays, everything and everyone has rights, animals have rights...gays have rights...women have rights...whether you are black, white, yellow or even green, you have rights...so surely Vampires have rights too"_

_Dracula watched her set back to work on the floor as a technician came in to check on things. He looked at the tablet he held and sat on the chair he had been given and crossed his legs. The techincian looked at Sabrina, "Hurry it up, you have the offices to clear up too"_

_Sabrina rolled her eyes as he left. Dracula looked up, "you let them treat you like a slave"_

_"it's not too bad...the pay is good"_

_He held up the tablet, "How does this work? It connects to an ethos does it not?"_

_Sabrina leaned on her mop, "I think so...it's all that technobabble and that"_

_Dracula looked blank._

_"You have to connect to the internet via the Wi-Fi"_

_Dracula shrugged at her, "Y-what?"_

_Sabrina pointed to the tablet, "I can't believe they haven't shown you how it works, I mean, WHY give t to you?"_

_Dracula sighed at looked at the blank screen, "why indeed"_

_She pointed, "feel the edge on the side, there is a button...push it and it should come on, if it's charged up"_

_With his sharp nail he found the button and pushed it in. The screen came to life with a windows intro jingle, "there you are", she said with a smile._

_Dracula smiled back at her, then asked, "How do I connect to the interconnect"_

_She laughed, "the internet! Put your finger onto the G icon on the screen"_

_He looked at it and did so...a message came up._

_"What does it say?", Sabrina asked._

_Dracula looked up, "It reads...you have no internet connection"_

_"Ohhhhh they haven't given you the Wi-Fi code! I suppose they won't"_

_Dracula looked at her, she was drawn to him, "tell me...", he whispered, the voice was soft and in her head._

_She shook herself, "Don't get into my head like that...you are freaking me out"_

_Dracula relented and placed his hand onto the glass, "give me a clue..."_

_Sabrina looked about her, then turned and whispered, "Your name backwards..."_

_And she lifted the bucket and mop and was on her way out the door, he looked at the screen and pressed a few icons...settings... he shrugged with a smile, and keyed in the password...ALUCARD_

VV

Zoe looked at Andrea, "the stupid girl told him and that was that...he had manged to get hold of a lawyer and got himself out on human rights grounds"

Andrea could see that there was something in that statement that was pleasing to her.

"You...were secretly happy for him to go free?"

Zoe turned away embarrassed slightly. She walked back to the window and said, "We had this moment...I was lost in him...the stories he told me...the things he saw all those years ago...he was an aphrodisiac..a powerful learned man with all this knowledge...a woman's dream"

Andrea swallowed down as Zoe turned and met her gaze, "he took you to the mortal plain...he took me there also..."

VV

_Zoe pulled her white coat around her as she stood up, "that was all very interesting Count Dracula"_

_Dracula nodded, "I'm glad you find my stories interesting Zoe...once my lawyer gets here, then you will no longer have the pleasure to listen to them"_

_He held her eyes._

_"Close them"_

_"Count Dra..."_

_"Close them", he soothed softly._

_She did._

_She was swirling through a vortex. The lights were so beautiful. Dazzling like magic. Whispers that calmed her until she seemed to come to a stop._

_"Open them", his voice commanded._

_Zoe was lying down. It was a bed of fur. Wolf fur she learned later. She shuddered and looked up to the darkness above her. There was a silhouette of an old and decaying Abbey or castle nearby. She was then fully aware that she was completely nude. Dracula was lying beside her,he rounded over and looked down at her. She felt paralyzed. Was it through fear him being the predator and her being the prey._

_He smiled down at her. His eyes taking in her slender neck as he gently moved her hair aside. He brushed the side of her cheek with his icy fingers._

_Her eyes were wide and looking at his, "I..."_

_"Shuush...", he whispered, and then smoothed his cold hand up and down her arm, and then he took in her beauty._

_"You are truly of beauty Zoe Van Helsing...smooth...pale...tender..",he chuckled, "...lying here next to the hairy beast...I can hear your pulse race...the blood running through your soft veins"_

_Zoe shuddered as his hand brushed over her breast and then to her stomach, and back again, "You...you can't drink from me Count Dracula...you know why that is"_

_He smirked at her, his dark hair falling to his face as he looked down at her. The hairs of his chest felt soft and tickled her bare skin, his eyes held hers,"I do not want to drink from you Zoe...I want something else, I want to lay with you"_

_"You're the devil...the man that all women should repulse from..."_

_He wasn't listening, "says the scientist that takes her work too seriously...a scientist that takes her work home..."_

_His lips were so close to hers, she could feel his breath, his eyes looking to her pulse, to her lips, to her hairline and back to her eyes, "Ohhhh Zoe...I know you want this too...ever since we met on the beach"_

_Zoe was breathing hard and arched up her body as she could feel him inside her, "This isn't happening...this can't be happening...this isn't real...this is all in my head"_

_His mouth moved to the shell of her ear, "is it...?"_

_"You have forced yourself on me...", there was tears in her eyes._

_Dracula was smiling at her, "You love the way I dominate you...you love my powerful aura...you want this Zoe...you wanted this from the day we first met..."_

_She was crying...the tears ran down her cheeks as she moved her face to meet his lips and they kissed. She could feel the sharpness of his teeth. They were hungry for her blood, but at the same time knowing that her blood was forbidden. A lethal flavour of death._

_Zoe reached out and pushed his head to her neck, he brushed his teeth over her skin but only drifted his lips gently over her jugular and then he looked up and their eyes met..._

VV

Andrea looked at her in complete and utter disgust, "you let HIM rape you? Why? He's the devil...a beast...a MONSTER!"

Zoe shook her head as her tired eyes lifted to look at her as she rubbed her stomach, "he is ALL of those things...but there is something else...something else I can't begin to explain..."

Andrea didn't want to know, "So...you let him go?"

The scientist confirmed that with a nod, "The Foundation had no choice...the lawyer came the next day and we didn't have any grounds to confine him further"

VV

_After his bonds were cut, Count Dracula slipped into his new jacket and smiled at Zoe as she watched nearby._

_"You are free to go...", she muttered clutching her clipboard._

_Dracula smiled at her, "dear dear Zoe...I want to pay homage to my stay here...it has been very enlightening"_

_Zoe glanced at the nerdy looking lawyer, Frank Renfield or something. She looked back to Dracula, "You were lucky they still had you on their books...who gave you the damned Wi-Fi code anyway?"_

_Dracula could see Sabrina the cleaner lurking nearby, his eyes flashed into her direction, but was too subtle for Zoe to notice, "does it matter...I'm sure they will make a fine meal for later on, you know, to say thank you..."_

_"We must be going", instructed Mr Renfield pushing his glasses up the bridge of his nose._

_Dracula' eyes met hers, "being seeing you Zoe...I have 123 years to catch up on..."_

_And she watched him leave the Foundation. Free to go and spread his death and foul disease again._

_And she clutched her stomach feeling sick_

VV

Andrea shook her head, "and he's doing it...spreading his death and foul disease...MY DAUGHTER is next...he will KILL HER!"

Zoe was facing the wall. He back to her, "I do understand..."

"Don't you even care? She's my daughter...God...you don't have children do you? You don't understand how I feel!"

Zoe turned around and parted her bath robe and the swelling was there for all to see.

"I do know...and that's why I must protect my own child..."

XXXXXX


	11. The Brooding beast - part 5

_TODAY, ANDREA DARLINGTON IS BACK AT WORK. SHE TOLD ME THAT HER DAUGHTER IS BACK. SHE TOLD ME THAT HER ORDEAL IS OVER. BUT THERE IS MORE...MORE TO THE NEWS STORY THAT SHE NOW REFUSES TO CONTINUE WITH. MAYBE ONE DAY SHE WILL OPEN UP AND TELL ALL. BUT THIS IS WHAT SHE HAS TOLD ME..._

_-ANDY ALLEN-_

XXXXXX

Andrea was aghast. She stared at the swelling. She was fit to burst.

"You see...I do understand the need to protect a child, because I am doing the very same thing"

Andrea pointed, "Is that...I mean...is it HIS?"

Zoe shook her head, "yes...he forced himself on me, and this is the fruition of his act of ravishment"

The reporter was disgusted, "And you have decided to keep it...are you in your right mind? Have you some kind of screw loose? WHY? Why would you even think of keeping it when you found out"

Zoe rubbed her hand over her pregnancy swelling, "It is a life...growing in me...it is not how I was brought up"

"That isn't a normal pregnancy!"

Zoe shook her head agreeing with her, "Yes, and don't I know it...it is giving me nightmares you couldn't even begin to imagine...while it has been growing inside me, it has given me cravings you would soon enough make you want to vomit at...I go to the fridge and eat raw meat...flesh...blood...offal...I want to taste the blood"

Andrea strode forward and snatched hold of her hand, "you must come with me...I have to take you to him and then he'll give me my daughter back"

Zoe threw her to the floor, and was almost apologetic of her act of violence, "I won't be threatened by you! What makes your child so special in comparison to the one I carry?"

Andrea scrambled to her feet, she was shaken up to the core, "A child? A child you say? There is no comparison...that THING you are carrying is an abomination"

Zoe rubbed her bump as she came forward, "You say HE promised to give you back your daughter? It's too late for her...she is dead...he has already killed her"

Andrea felt dizzy, she bolted from the flat. She hurried down the stairs and out of the bottom foyer doors and into the cold street outside. Zoe Van Helsings words kept repeating to her in slow motion in her mind, as she clung to the walls for support.

"SHE IS DEAD...HE HAS ALREADY KILLED HER"

And she collapsed to the concrete as people gathered around her.

VV

Zoe Van Helsing sat on her bed and stared into the mirror on the dresser. The reflection wasn't hers. It was a nun staring back at her. Her ancestor Agatha. Her face was stony and full of disappointment.

"How is it you are not ashamed of the thing you carry"

Zoe stared right at her, she moved her head and the reflection in the mirror did the same, "it is apart of me"

"and apart of HIM"

Zoe didn't have to be reminded by that, she dismissed it with a wave of her hand, "it is a child"

Agatha's reply was harsh, "IT IS A BEAST"

Zoe tore her eyes away from the mirror, but Agatha remained in the same stoic position, "I will not harm my child"

"Then pray to God, because only he will be able to guide you now, you need to go to the source of the light Zoe...only God's salvation can help you now..."

VV

Andrea was walking through the mist. the rocky approach she had negotiated was at an end and she saw the castle. Lightening screamed across the sky. There was whispers in her mind. She turned and saw an opening up ahead and she was no longer looking at the castle.

Barefoot, Andrea was walking down a corridor. It was bright and white. Almost clinical by design. She came to a door and noticed that her hands were covered in blood. It didn't faze her at all.

It was someones blood. She just knew it was. She went through the door and saw the body lying beneath the sheet. The room was bright white and the trolley was of a shiny metal.

She swallowed and approached the trolley. It was only inches away from her now. There is the aroma of flowers in the air. Lilies.

She then grabs the sheet at the head end and tugs it away. Leanna is lying there. Her eyes are fixed closed and she is lifeless.

Leanna is dead.

Leanna is dead.

Leanna is dead.

And Andrea laughs out in sheer glee. It is like that something is inside her making her feel happy and jubilant of her daughters death.

She turned and he was there looking at her. Count Dracula.

"She tasted good...her's wasn't the best flavour Andrea, but in a time of so many toxins in ones blood...who am I to complain"

And he licked his blood soaked fingers.

Andrea screamed...

"CALM DOWN...CALM DOWN"

Andrea opened her eyes and it was the bright lights that hit her first. She blinked and realised she was lying on a trolley in the Emergency Department at the hospital. A nurse had tugged her arm, "You were having a nightmare, I think"

Andrea was breathing hard and looked around her. The clinical corridor, the shiny steel trolley she was on. She swung her legs round, "I've got to get out of here"

"But the doctor hasn't seen you", cried the nurse.

Andrea wasn't listening to her, she gathered up her stuff and hurried away up the corridor in bare foot.

VV

Jack Seward went into the flat. Zoe was packing up her suitcase, "I've got to get out of here, I think she will go to him"

Jack stepped forward and shook his head, "Zoe no...Count Dracula is not the only thing to worry about"

She zipped up the case and looked at him,"I should never have agreed to see her...how could you have done this to me"

Jack went to the window and peered through the blinds, "They are out looking for you...you know what they will do if they get hold of you"

Zoe scraped her hair into a ponytail, "I have to take the risk...I fear the help I am getting to block Dracula out will leave me, and if that happens...he will find me...but then the OTHERS could just as easily snatch me...I can't win...and if I stay holed up here, I'll be wide open"

Jack put his iPhone to his ear, "Leave it to me...I'll make sure you get out safely...trust me"

"Who are you calling..."

"Trust me..."

VV

Andrea had made it home. She sat at her lap top with her head in her hands. She was getting desperate. She wanted her daughter back. She reached for her iPhone and scrolled down to Count Dracula's number.

She hesitated, then pressed call and put the phone to her ear, "Count Dracula? Yes...I know where Zoe Van Helsing is...send a car round and I'll tell you...face to face"

She closed her eyes, hoping he didn't sense her nervousness, "9 O'clock will he good..."

She ended the call and bit her nails looking at the clock on the computer...she had 2 hours to kill.

VV

Jack was on his phone as he came out the foyer of the flats, "Call me when you get this..."

Zoe was then behind him, she wore a grey hoodie that Jack had given her, "I'm not sure about this"

Jack went up to her and took her hands, "Zoe...she knows where you are...she will bring HIM to you...you have to get away and as I said, I'm going to help you"

Zoe knew it was too risky to stay put. She reluctantly agreed and let herself be lead to his car that was parked up the side street. She got into the back. Jack put on a pair of dark shades and got onto the drivers seat and pulled away.

VV

At nine, Andrea peered out of the window and saw the black car pull up outside. She grabbed her coat and keys and left her place and got into the car.

The journey was very much the same as before. The same locked door. The same feeling of dizziness.

And as before Dracula had met her at his place and lead her to his apartment via the elevator.

Dracula was eager to get started, "So...Andrea...you know where she is"

"Yes...I have spoken to her"

Dracula was impressed and raised his eyebrows, "...and?"

Andrea cleared her throat, "she has blocked her mind from you...there is a reason"

Dracula dismissed her, "that I already know...she does it with some help... help of an ancestor of hers...and an old...friend of mine...she has gained that ability because she drank my blood through a sample I gave her"

"That is not the only reason"

Dracula circled her on the spot, "Oh?"

She nodded, "She is...she is carrying a child"

Dracula stopped and leaned in to her, "How very interesting...whose is it...the young scientist, Seward I suspect"

Andrea shook her head, "No...it's not his"

Dracula went up to his table and turned to her, hands in his trouser pockets, "then who?"

She looked at him.

He tilted his head as the realisation of her facial expression hit him, "Ohhhh, you think it is my seed"

"She says it is"

Dracula laughed, "how amusing I find that? She is mortal, a human...it is impossible that she and I can conceive, she has deliberately fabricated this story to get away"

Andrea shook her head, "No...everything I have told you is true! You promised to let my daughter go, you promised"

Dracula rounded the table and turned to her, "did I? Just like the lies Zoe feed you, you shouldn't always believe what you want to hear..."

Andrea gasped out and went up to him grabbing him by the lapels of his dark suit, "You promised...I CAN TAKE YOU TO HER! PLEASE!"

Dracula grinned at her, as she sunk to her knees before him.

"Oh Andrea. ANDREA, please don't plead...it doesn't become you...the amount of girls that have dropped to their knees before me...I have lost count", he said with a twinkle in his eye, he offered his hand and she took it and she stood.

Andrea's had tears falling down her cheeks, "please...you HAVE to believe me...impossible you say, what if something made a conception possible...like she drinking YOUR blood"

Dracula's smile faded as he took it in and mused, "apart of me within her...we are bonded by my blood...her blood mixing with mine"

Andrea stepped forward shaking her head with hopeful eyes, "Yes...see...it MUST be true..."

Dracula's face was a scowl and his eyes were red. She felt him lash out at her and she went flying. The floor crashed to her and then there was nothing but darkness.

VV

Jack Seward drove his car on the motorway. Zoe was in the back seat. She looked about her, "Where are we going? Have we left London?"

Jack looked at her through his rear-view mirror, "yes...we are heading to my parents retreat in the country...you will be safe there"

Zoe pulled a strand of hair out of her eyes and looked at the sign boards as they passed them by, "The Midlands? Didn't you say your parents retreat was in Sussex?"

Jack laughed, "Did I? I must have been mistaken"

Zoe looked at him, "What are you doing? How much have they offered you? HOW MUCH?"

Jack focused on the road as he spoke, "this isn't personal Zoe...but I am still too young to retire...with the Foundation gone, I have been offered a great opportunity"

"In science? You could do that all by yourself with your qualifications..."

"I want MORE...and the Society has seen to it"

Zoe shook her head, "the Society?"

Jack nodded as he over took a car, "they financed the foundation...they were extremely disappointed that Count Dracula had to be let go...they wanted him...but when I told them of you...carrying a child fathered by the immortal...they said they'd set me up for life, that I could do and further my career in just about ANYTHING"

Zoe shook her head slowly and suddenly went for the door release, Jack quickly pressed the central locking and the car was bolted.

She looked at him, face full of disappointment, "I would sooner kill myself and it, and let this happen...to let THEM have my child"

Jack met her eyes in the rear-view, "I'm sorry..."

VV

Andrea knew she was dreaming. She stood under the archway of the church. There was a wafting mist at her feet. She called out, "Father James?"

This was Father James's old church. The excommunicated priest she had spoken to. Why had she been brought here.

She entered the gloom of the church inner. The soft candle light made everything all in a haze.

Father James was at the alter and Count Dracula sitting in one of the pews, "What are you doing in my church?"

Dracula leaned back in the pew crossing one leg the other and grinned at the priest, "to desecrate it"

Father James had the look of horror in his eyes. He realised who this person was. He backed away and pointed at him accusingly, "it's you - the one from the east...the dark one"

"Of course it's me"

Father James swallowed, "I have read the scriptures at the convent...I know all about you"

Dracula laughed, "But I know all of that...why else would I be here for you?"

"They said...they said you had been destroyed"

Dracula stood and approached him and gave a chuckle. The priest remained defiant, "In a ship-wreck, yes...but the trouble with me is...I may have been down, but I don't stay down"

The priest shook his head, "My great grandfather was in Romania..."

Dracula looked down at him with his dark eyes, "Yes...I recognise the bloodline...a vampire hunter...I can even remember torturing him..."

The priest looked afraid as the Count became more sinister, "...and did you know, when I ripped out his heart, it was still beating?"

Andrea was aghast as the Priest ran out. Dracula was suddenly there in front of her. A heart was beating in his hand and he licked his lips, she looked down at it horrified.

"The workings of the heart are fascinating wouldn't you agree,Andrea? You are wondering of whom I took this from...from your daughter possibly...?

Andrea opened her eyes and found herself lying on her bed. She hunched up on her elbows. The sun was beating through the blinds. Was she still dreaming? Or was she really back home.

She slipped off the bed and went into the hall and went down the stairs. Was that the front door?

Andrea was feeling nervous as she slowly edged her way into the kitchen. She pushed the door to, and saw Leanna. She was drinking out of the orange juice carton. She turned.

"Hi..."

"Leanna?"

Leanna closed her the fridge, "You only just got up? Tenerife was great by the way"

Andrea was confused, "Tenerife?"

Leanna laughed, "Yeah...I've had the most awesome two weeks...partied all the way...is there any breakfast going?"

Andrea was in a daze. She touched her forehead. Surely she was STILL dreaming...but everything was so real.

"But..."

Leanna moved away from the kitchen sink, "Hey, why is it so bright in here"

"Bright?"

"must be all the booze I sunk"

Andrea followed her into the hall way, "you didn't call from Tenerife"

Leanna laughed and turned as she was about to go upstairs, "Mum! I called you everyday"

Andrea watched her go up the stairs. On the landing she called out, "I'm just going for a shower Mum, then I need to call Cecile...damn, why is it so bright up here...it's really hurting my eyes..."

Andrea put her back up against the wall and closed her eyes. Dracula had been a man of his word. He had given her daughter back from stasis. But at what cost?

VV

It was sun down when Count Dracula stepped out from the back of his black limousine and went up to the foyer of the block of flats. Frank Renfield was a gibbering wreck beside him, "Can you get inside, master?"

Dracula glanced at him and then saw someone approach from inside. The man pulled open the door, "after you", the man offered.

Dracula gave him a smile, "Thank you for inviting me in", he said strolling in, followed by Frank, the man gave a backwards glance, pulled a face and was on his way.

"Flat number 4. Master"

Dracula was up the stairs and came to the door of number 4. He glanced at Frank and then kicked it down with one stroke of his foot, the door ended up flat on the floor. Frank went inside and looked about, "She's gone, Master..."

Dracula leaned on the doorway with a knowing look, "Gone? Yes, I was half expecting it..."

Frank was all in a flap because if things were not to go his masters way, he was always at the brunt of the Vampires frustrations, "I can go and make some inquires, Master..."

Dracula's dark eyes glared at him, "Just get out of my sight!"

Frank slipped beside him constantly bowing his head, "yes Master...as you command master..."

Dracula shook his head and then looked to the gloomy flat. He looked to the floor and then stepped forward exploratory. He had already been invited into the building. Why not the flat itself. It was only a room within the building. He chuckled, it worked.

He went over the window and peered out of the blind. An orange street lamp made his face glow. He looked to the room and sighed, and then towards the mirror. He grimaced, but was surprized not to see the reflection of a withered old man.

It was her. Sister Agatha Van Helsing.

"It's you"

Agatha chuckled in the mirror, "Of course it is me"

The Vampire strode forward, "Where is she?"

"She is gone"

Dracula tried to restraint his frustrations, "I can see that", he seethed through his sharp teeth.

Agatha's eyes looked at him, "Zoe is in mortal danger...there is a force out there that want her child"

Dracula was beginning to come to terms with the truth, "How is that even possible...? Is it because we are now bonded by my blood?"

Agatha frowned at him, "Who knows? Who am I to claim to be the expert in those matters"

Dracula brushed his hand over his mouth, "This force you speak of...who is it?"

"Somebody that she thought she could trust has betrayed her...in a world where you don't know who to trust in anymore"

Dracula looked concerned, he was confused, "Are YOU even real? Or are you in my mind?"

Agatha was amused by that, "I like to think I am in your mind, if not anything else, but to annoy you Count Dracula"

Dracula came forward, his face very close to the mirror. Close to the Nun's face.

"You and Zoe are linked are you not? You MUST know where she is"

Agatha's amusement faded as she resorted to that of concern, "Normally I would. But I cannot feel her Count Dracula, there is only darkness in her soul, a blight, a curse..."

"An infant"

Agatha's eyes grew dark herself. Like she was one of legend. The leader of all knowledge, "The infants fate is set. Sister Mary told me about her dream so many years ago...I didn't want to believe it when she told me, because it is so tragic..."

Dracula's temper was rising, "Told you what? TOLD YOU WHAT?"

And she just looked at him...and smiled.

VV

It was dark. There was muffed voices. Zoe managed to open her eyes and the bright light hit her. She was dazed and disorientated. She didn't know where she was.

Where was Jack?

She then saw someone in a surgical mask lean over her, "Ohhh you are awake. Don't fret Dr Van Helsing...we are not here to harm you"

Zoe tried to lift her head but she couldn't. Her hands felt like they had been clamped, with her eyes widening in fear, she stared up at the stranger in the surgical light, "I can't move...my...I feel so tired"

"We have given you a relaxant sedative...it is for your own good"

She spilled out a barrage of questions,"Why? What's happening...where's Jack? What do you want?"

"We want your baby Dr Van Helsing...we are here to take your baby..."

She went to scream out as the gas was put to her nose and mouth, but then she knew nothing at all...

VV

EPILOGUE...

_THE WORDS OF SISTER MARY TO SISTER AGATHA: 1885_

_There was a dream I had, that Dracula had a son. He was born in the future and to keep his boy safe, he was inexplicably spirited away here to the past. Count Dracula is an intelligent individual. But he overlooked the fact that he actually put his son in mortal danger. Overlooked the fact that his past self was here too..._

_I met the boy. The boy was adopted by gypsies, and his name was Fitz...**_

_VV_

_** Please read The Immortal Vows._

_END_

_A/N: More tales? Questions? let me know._


	12. Taste the blood of Lucy

LONDON, 2020

My name is Leyla Morgan, and I want to tell you about Lucy.

Lucy...

That was her name.

I was at work for more than a year when she suddenly appeared on the scene. She was just appeared there one day during a sales pitch at my company.

Lucy was beautiful. She was beautiful in every which way that was.

I'm not usually attracted to other girls. I'm into boys. I had a boyfriend at the time, his name was Ryan.

He is every girls dream guy. Blonde, tall, doing really well in the management team, popular with the other guys.

But...

The day I clapped eyes on Lucy...Ryan was never in my thoughts.

At work, she used to sit to the side of me. Her hair was long and jet black and had a nice sheen to it, as it captured the sunlight.

Her eyes were like white diamonds. They always sparkled at me when she looked at me.

And she loved looking at me. She whispered stuff in my thoughts. Like our minds met at that instant.

The day I met her, she was wearing a black figure hugging dress that hung to her thighs. She clutched a black folder that was encrusted in gold patterns of what looked like flowers.

She said that she had just moved to London, and when I asked her where she had moved from, I couldn't never seemed to remember the place, after she told me.

It didn't matter. She was like a goddess.

All the men loved her. But she had no interest in them. And nor did she show it.

Ryan wanted to take me out to a party. I didn't want to go because I kept on thinking about her, wanting her to touch me.

After work, that first week Lucy had suddenly appeared. I walked with her through reception to the exit; she said to me;

"This party...am I invited?"

I couldn't see why not. All week I had tried to tell Ryan I didn't want to go with him...but now I could feel the excitement build up within me. Making me feel all tingly inside.

"Of course...", I said, "...It's an open house...anyone can come..."

I walked out with her and asked her whether I should pick her up. She just told me she'd be there...there was no need to give her the address because she would be there.

I went home and had a shower. I put on my best dress and did my hair nice and wore it down like she always did.

Ryan stopped by and gave me a lift to the party. He kept on touching me...leaning over and wanting me to kiss me with that disgusting filthy guy mouth of his.

I never used to feel like this about him. But then again, I never used to think about Lucy.

Ryan was so thick, he couldn't work it out. When Lucy turned up at the party all the guys were there with their tongues hanging out.

They were like dirty disgusting dogs leering at her.

Through the crowded hall way to the house, I could feel Lucy's eyes on me. Everybody seemed to part as she stepped through, and made her way towards me.

She looked amazing. Her hair long and curly. Her eyes wide and like diamonds, her figure hugging dress showing off the reason why she never ever needed to diet or work out because she was so perfect in everyway.

I felt hot. And I felt more alive than I'd ever been.

I drank wine...she didn't drink a drop of anything.

I danced. She just watched.

Guys went to up to all the time. But one look from her seemed to send them away like they had been hit by a bus.

Ryan was then on me. He grabbed my hand and dragged me out to the patio outside. He wanted a little loving.

I fought him off. I couldn't stand him touching me no more.

Then Lucy was there on the patio and said calmly to him,

"She wants you to leave her alone"

Ryan laughed out loud. And soon his friends were all round them in the yard. Laughing and pointing at Lucy and mocking her..

One tried his luck and came on to her. He tried to kiss her, stick his filthy tongue down her throat. But he was soon backing away and was being violently sick in the dustbin.

Lucy turned to me, "Come with me...we don't need these creatures slobbering all over us"

Lucy took my hand. Her skin was ice cold to the core.

She led me upstairs, and we went into the first bedroom. All time around me froze...like life had just stopped. I was feeling hot and flushed, like something was clouding my mind.

Lucy closed the door and came over to me. She put an arm around me and unzipped my dress and it fell to the carpet.

I was standing there stark naked. She was smiling at me. And she put a finger to her lips and licked it, then two fingers. I was shaking...I was shaking in excitement and could feel it running down my thigh.

With both hands, she cupped by cheeks and kissed my mouth. Then she slipped her tongue to my neck. On to my beating pulse.

It settled there and she pulled away. I felt something hot run down my skin. I gasped. I was bleeding.

But Lucy just smiled at me, and held my eyes with hers. Ones that shone like diamonds.

She was making me feel nice and settled. Her finger smoothed my skin, where the blood was pooling, and then she put her fingers to her lips, tasting it.

I ached for it...and I didn't know why.

She laid me down onto the bed and then drew a cut on my arm. A long scratch with her sharp manicured middle nail. She then lowered her head and lapped up the warm blood that trickled from it.

I was breathing heavily. I was feeling hot and clammy. I wanted it too. I put my tongue to my arm and sucked up the blood hungrily.

Lucy smiled and watched me taste at myself. She found it highly amusing.

Somehow, she was naked too. I hadn't even noticed her take her dress off. She cut a slice of her left beast and sucked at the blood that oozed. She then cut the right breast and I started to lap my tongue to the sweet serum.

I Shoke in pleasure. I sucked at the blood and sucked at her teat.

Lucy moaned in pleasure as I did so. I arched my head and looked over towards the mirror on the dresser. To look at the blood smeared across my mouth. Unable to explain why I loved it so much...and explain away, why I was the only one lying on the bed.

But it didn't matter...because she was here with me...beautiful and erotic Lucy.

I never felt so wonderful...so turned on...Ryan could NEVER do this to me, and nor did I want him to.

Lucy had put a nail to my breast and made me bleed. And her ice cold mouth was on me that sent shivers of excitement down my spine.

I wanted more...she had me begging for more...how she did it, I do not know.

I laid on my bare back. The sheets were running with red now.

She had a hand on me...prodding me...filling me, till I gasped out in pleasure. She held my eyes...I was lost in them.

And then her hand was to her ruby red lips...licking her fingers.

I gasped again...it was painful...but a nice kind of pain.

She had cut me down there...and then her head was between my legs and lapping up the blood that seemed to trickled out from me...

She came up and looked into my eyes again. The hot blood dripping from her lips and down to my flushed cheeks. She licked her lips, saviouring the taste, and I was sure I saw two long sharp teeth at both corners of her mouth.

She raised her finger, and the sharp nail was close to slitting my throat across. She was smiling at me...her ice cold breasts touching my own.

Then I closed my eyes. The world didn't seem real anymore. I was trying to gather my thoughts, but couldn't make sense of anything around me...of who I was.

I must've blacked out, because the next thing I heard was the sirens. I was in a weird in between awareness of shadows and of voices. Worried raised voices.

Blurred figure shapes. Instructive voices. A set tone of trying to be reassuring.

The next thing I know I am in the hospital, and my parents stop by and say that I am lucky to be alive because I had lost so much blood.

I called her name...Lucy...Lucy...

But Lucy was not there...she was nowhere to be seen. There was nothing but clinical white walls and flourescent lights.

I spent 2 weeks in the hospital. And when I was sent home, I was on a regime of having as much rest as possible.

Mum and Dad want me to see a psychiatrist for what I did to myself. They think I am going crazy for talking about Lucy all the time...I mutter her name in my sleep, they say.

One day, Ryan came to visit me. He asks if I am okay, and I tell him I am. I ask him about work and what Lucy is up to, and why she hasn't come to visit me.

"Who's Lucy?"

"The girl", I cried at him, "The new girl at work..all the guys are after her"

"There is nobody called Lucy..."

"But she was there at the party that night! Tall girl...long...or was it blonde...or..."

I was confused. Why couldn't I not remember what she looked like.

"she was at the party...she was!"

"Leyla...there is no one called Lucy...you came to the party with me...and then you went off by yourself...we found you in the bedroom...you were...doing stuff to yourself..."

I am confused. I can't remember what she looked like, nor can I remember where she is from.

Today, I go back to the office and look across to where Lucy had sat. There was a vacant seat...there was nobody there. And according to everybody else...there had never been anybody there...

VV.


	13. KINDRED IMMORTAL - part 1

ROMANIA and the CARPATHIAN MOUNTAIN REGION: 1797

"You have sinned...you are a fucking dirty whore!"

The sisterhood were harsh as they dragged me up to the bell tower. I only wanted to feel the touch of a man. I confessed it and they treat me like this.

"You will repent! You will repent the thoughts of the mortal flesh!"

Sister Helga grabbed my arms and spun me around to face her. Her face was red and angry, and her habit flapped about in her rage, "You must repent...or you will burn in hell...do you hear me...YOU WILL BURN IN HELL!"

I clung onto the railing of the bell tower. I felt hot and flushed and upset. This wasn't for me. I thought I wanted to be apart of the holy order of St Mary's convent, but I have changed my mind, this is not what I want no more.

And to leave the order is not an easy exercise.

I just wanted to be touched by a man. To be happy and have children. I have chosen the wrong path and want out.

But the Sisters were having none of it.

Helga slapped me in the face so hard it stung.

"YOU WILL BURN IN HELL!"

I scream out to her, "No...NO I WILL NOT!"

And I push Helga and she toppled over the top of the railing and went screaming down to her death.

The other nuns of the order were screaming out in horror as they knelt down at their fallen Sister. Blood pooled out from behind the back of her head.

An old crone of a nun looked up and cried, "BURN IN HELL, BURN IN HELL, BURN IN HELL!"

I shriek out and run down the steps to the base of the bell tower. They are all looking at me and pointing.

The crone was in my face, "YOU WILL BURN ETERNAL FOR WHAT YOU HAVE DONE!"

I am upset. The shock of what had just happened was hitting me. I run to my room and gather up my stuff as the thunder and lightening started to rage outside.

I run to the gates of the convent and force them open and I run to the forest. The thunder crashes and the lightening screams across the night sky.

When the rain lashes down, my habit is soaking wet and I pull it off, so the rain can at last touch my long wavy auburn hair.

I remember why I am acting like I have. I can still see in my mind the events of the previous evening, when two of us Sisters went into the village and I saw a man fuck his wife. It was in a back room on the hay bed as we were attending to the husbands dying mother.

The wife moaned in pleasure as the husband pounded hard into her.

This sent shivers down me. This was new but...it was something I thought about if I saw a handsome looking man.

But it was wrong. I am a nun of the holy order and should not think or feel of such things.

I climb the hill and go deeper and deeper into the wet forests. The wolves are howling in the distance that sent shivers down my spine.

The rain is hard and relentless. It is cold as well. I climb further until I am tired and I collapse into the mud.

I look up as more lightening flares up the sky, and saw the outline of castle flash. Shelter. I force myself to my feet and it is a struggle. I puff and pant in the deluge as I head for the dark fortress yonder.

The lightening flashes again and I see the castle up ahead. It is dark and I can see no candle lights.

At last I hit the track and I run to the archway that heralds the castle proper. Soaked to the skin, I run up to the great wooden doors and bang on the knocker. I banged again and this time the door opened and a tall gentleman holding a candelabra was looking down at me with dark eyes.

He was dressed casually in a ruffled shirt that was open and ruffled at the sleeves and a red waistcoat that was unbuttoned.

"Please...", I say, "...please can I shelter from the rain"

The man looked at me for a moment and nodded, "Of course...come in"

He shut the door and closed out the rain. The hall I stood in was dark and cold. The man approached me and smiled in the candlelight he held, "You need to dry yourself off...come and warm yourself at the fire"

I followed him to an inner chamber where a fire was suddenly ablaze at the hearth, and he placed a chair in front of it and offered it me.

I sat down and still shaking with cold, I warmed myself at the fire. The man placed the candelabra down and looked at me, "If I can be quite frank, you are a nun are you not?"

"Not anymore...", I uttered.

"What is your name?"

I look at him, "I am...Rosa"

He smiled and approached me, "Rosa...now that is a pretty name. I like Rosa"

I look at him. His eyes drawing me in, "The sisters...they wouldn't like me to use that name now..."

The man chuckled, "Ohhhh, the sisters of the order...those harpies...you shouldn't listen to the shite that they spill from their frustrated dried lips"

I nod.

"You MUST forgive me...I haven't introduced my self, I am Count Dracula...no doubt you might have heard of me if you are with the convent"

It wasn't a name I had heard of, "No..."

Dracula offered me his hand and I find myself taking it and standing very close to him. He is looking at me, holding my eyes to his, "You are so very beautiful Rosa...you would make a very delectable bride"

"Bride?", I ask.

He tilted his head, "A figure of speech...you must be hungry, why not sit yourself at the table over there and I'll arrange some food to be brought to you"

I nod and let go of his cold hand and moved across to the table that was big enough for eight or so sittings. I sat down.

Dracula came forth and turned as some wraith looking man placed a bowl of hot broth down in front of me. The man was shockingly ugly. Scraggy hair, no teeth. And dressed in garb that had seen much better days.

"That will be all Klote...you can scurry off back to your den and leave us"

The thing bowed his head several times at his lord and master and then scurried off out of sight.

Dracula sat down in the chair opposite me and watched me spoon a mouthful of the broth, "I hope it is to your satisfaction"

The broth was watery and as I forced a swallow, I smiled at him, "yes...it is good"

He stared across to me for a moment, then he stood and made for a rack, stacked full of dusty wine bottles, "please...will you drink some wine? I can assure you it's all nothing less than a fine vintage"

I swallowed more of the broth and smiled, "red wine...?", I asked, "...the blood of Christ"

Dracula removed the cork with his sharp fingers whilst looking at me, "...so they say"

He came and poured some of the wine into a gold plated goblet. I notice that he didn't pour any for himself, "You will not drink with me Count Dracula?"

Dracula shook his head, "however good maybe the flavour...the blood of Christ doesn't do it for me"

The wine was good and I sipped a few mouthfuls. I finish the broth as he watched me then I ask, "Do you live alone here Count Dracula? Well, apart from..."

Dracula chuckled as he rested his hand over the back of the chair beside him, "Just me...and Klote...the poor creature serves me well, but I will be trading him in at some point"

I didn't know what he meant by that.

Dracula leaned forward and focused on me, "So...you were one of the harpies in the convent...why have you left them, eh? Have you done something you shouldn't have..."

There was a smirk there I didn't like.

"No...", I answer, "...it just wasn't for me"

Dracula raised his eyebrows at me, "Well, good for you...all that praying on your hands and knees and getting nothing in return...I don't blame you for buggering off"

I stifle a yawn.

"Ohhhh you are tired...yes, how rude of me to keep you up", he stood and took my hand into his and lead me to the staircase, "...please go up and I will show you to a suitable room where you can rest and freshen yourself up"

I look up the stairs. It was a Gothic piece of past ages, as I climbed the stone steps and see the ghostly portraits that stared back at me on the walls.

I turn to see Dracula behind me with the candelabra to hand, "please...this way"

I followed him down the narrow tunnel and asked about the portraits, "who are they...relatives of yours?"

Dracula came to a door and unlocked it, "to be honest I don't know who they are...no doubt they might have built the place, they were on the walls when I moved in, now...I hope you find your room acceptable, you have to forgive me, I rarely accept guests"

He stands aside and I enter the room. There was a four poster bed. An array of dusty draws and cabinets. Dracula came and placed the candelabra onto the side, "there...for you"

I look at him and he looks at me...our eyes searching each other, but he smiles and moves to the door, "In the morning I will not be around...", he pointed to a wardrobe, "...in there you will find a frock or two that you may like to change into...the nuns garbs you can leave here, I will gladly burn them"

This all sounded so final, "So...if I don't see you in the morning...won't I see you again?"

Dracula turned in the doorway and tilted his head, "If you do, then you have to wait until after sundown, I'll be back then...IF you want to see me again...but I don't know what for"

I approach him, "to say thank you...let me cook you a meal...how can I show you thanks for taking me in, I would have died of exposure out in those woods, and that's if the wolves didn't get me first"

He laughed, "And what will you be serving up? Yourself perhaps"

I was nervous...but I couldn't help myself, I looked up at him, "...if you want me"

He kept looking into my eyes and then at my neck, "...a conversation for tomorrow night...I bid you goodnight"

And he closed the door on me...

I turned and could hear the wind whistling outside the window. The flames of the candelabra flickered in a draught.

I remove my robes and picked up a porcelain jug and filled the bowl with water. I rinsed my face.

I dried myself with a towel and went to the wardrobe and opened the door. There was an array of frocks and dresses on show, and although I'm not an expert in fashion, by the look of some of the garbs, some styles had long gone by.

I find a simple white one I could sleep in and laid on top of the bed. It was hard and it was lumpy, but at least it was dry.

The room was darkening as the flames of the candles slowly died to the wick. The creaks and squeaks of the wood beams around me moaning against the gale and rain that battled on outside.

I drift slowly off to sleep, forcing Sister Helga's red angry face out of my mind. And then her lying on the hard stone floor below with her skull split open.

I had killed her. It was only dawning on me now that I had killed somebody.

I was suddenly looking up at the ceiling and there was a hot breath close to my ear. I look and see Count Dracula lying next to me on the bed. Why was it daylight outside? The sun was shining bright through the small arch window.

I was dreaming...

"How can you be in my dream?", I ask him.

Dracula touched my naked arm and rubbed his fingers up and down the length, "whose to say we are in yours when we can just as easily be in mine"

I feel flushed. His touch excites me. I am on my side and he is lying behind me looking at my face and my neck. There is hunger in those eyes.

"You want me...?", I ask. I sound so timid.

He reached his hand and stroked my auburn hair and smiled as he did so, looking up and down the length of my body in the white nightdress.

"Ohhh yes, I have always wondered what the flavour of one of the holy harpie order would taste like..."

I breath hard and meet his hungry dark eyes, "I am NOT a nun..."

He chuckled and had a very knowing look, "No...you are no nun...not with those thoughts..."

I was agitated. Was he a mind reader, "what...?"

He licked his lips and was close to my ear at a whisper, "You're a dirty little slut aren't you...the filthy thoughts you are having about me..."

He was pushing up my nightgown with his sharp fingers, smoothing his cold hand over my upper leg, his eyes always holding mine and there was that very subtle grin, I wanted to say no but...

"don't worry, Rosa, deflowering a holy virgin is not my style"

I swallow down. He is undoing the buttons of his trousers with his free hand, he grinned at me and whispers words that sound more sinister than his face suggests, "don't you just love a good bit of unholy sodomy..."

And I scream out at the pain as I feel him in me...the unnatural act defiled by the holy bible.

He thrusts me and grins at the sight of my tears, "Oh come now...don't fight it...the pain will quickly ease, I assure you"

I am giddy with a headrush...I feel hot with the friction of him, my tears are somehow of blood, he reaches and brushes my cheek with his thumb, "no tears now, Rosa...this is what you want...for a man to dominate that tainted holy heart of yours"

I shiver with the upset. I look at him and his eyes are red and predatory, he grabs my hair and forces my head back to expose my entire pale neck to him, he salivates at the sight of it and with a wink of his eye says, "now...this might hurt...but I will promise you wonderful dreams of childhood, Rosa...wonderful dreams of childhood"

And he opens his vile mouth and bites down at me with a sinking crunch. My whole body arches up with the sharp pain as he withdraws down there and sucks me dry up here.

I want to scream for help...but I can't.

VV

I awake - the sun is shining in through the small arch window in my room. It's golden rays sent crisscross patterns on to the wood floor.

I am dazed and I am fully aware of what I dreamed was real. I am sore as I get up and I instantly scan the room for a mirror, because I want a closer look of what is hurting my neck, but there are no mirrors.

I pull open the wardrobe, and pick out a suitable frock and slip into it quickly. I then go over to the window and crane up my neck to peer outside. The thick forested hills surrounded the castle. A never-ending sea of evergreen trees. I look below and see the track that lead away from the fortress.

I head to the door and opened it,and stepped out into the tunnel, and followed it swiftly along until I got to the top of the staircase. I look below and got a grand view of the living area below. All was quiet. I call out; "hello?"

I am only welcomed back with my own eerie echo.

I lift my dress and rush down the steps and glide across the flagstones to the entrance hall. I pause at the great doors. I fear that they are locked. I try, but they open. I am relieved, I am not a prisoner here.

Outside, I feel the suns warmth on my cheeks, enhancing how deathly cold the interior of the castle was. I head to the exit arch and hear the noise of somebody chopping wood. I see it is that Klote creature. I squint in the sharp glare and call out to him, "How far is the village from here?"

Klote just looked at me like I was dirt on his disgusting boots. His eyes were sunken and he foamed at the mouth at the sight of me. Shuddering, I quicken my stride and move up the dirt track through the shady woods, the castle looming behind me like a dark thunder cloud in the sky. The trees rustle in the wind as I follow the track down hill. The village couldn't be too far surely?

It must have taken a few hours, but I reached the village. I was no sooner there over its fresh-hold, when I saw the Holy sisters knocking on door to doors. They were in search of me. I hid behind a wall and could smell freshly baked bread. The aroma made me feel rather quite hungry.

"She is EVIL", claimed one of the sisters to a villager as they strode by. I grabbed a potato sack that was hanging up to dry and used it as a shawl to cover my face, like a hood. I managed to get back to the perimeter of the village when one of the nuns on the cart shouted out; "IT'S HER!"

I ran up the dirt track back to the shady woods. The nuns were in the cart and the horses took it to a gallop to give me chase.

I ran into the woods, taking a chance to glance back, I could see the rage of hatred for me on each of the nuns faces. I know what would happen if they capture me, they would stone me in the name of the Lord.

The cart has stopped and they are climbing off to give chase after me through the trees. I climb the hill and move hither and whither through the brush.

"GET HER!"

I could see a clearing and went to move and crouch down in the thicket. The leading nun was Sister Martha, she grabbed a stick and was beating back the bushes for me.

I suddenly feel cold. There is an icy chill running through the trees. A mist that wafted about my crouching form. The nuns glance at each other as the sound of wolves came all around us.

I swallowed and sense the eyes on me. Sister Martha points, "THERE..."

I stand up and gasp, but just as one of the nuns lunged forward to grab me, a wolf came jumping out of nowhere and floored the sister. Its shaggy grey form wriggled over her and no sooner had it's sharp jaws around her neck, the blood was shed.

There was screams of fear as more and more wolves came running out from the trees and attacked the nuns. One wolf jumped up and knocked a nun off her feet and had it's fangs in her bloody throat.

I back away in terror of the scene. Sister Martha went to follow me and grabbed my arm, but her arm was left hanging from thin air as a wolf sprang up from the brush and tore it right off her shoulder. The nun flipped back as two more ripped her head from her shoulders.

Her decapitated head still screaming.

It was all a headrush and I flushed as I tripped back and clung to a tree for support. The blood-fest around me was continuing.

And the Wolves all howled out together. And looked at her.

I widen my eyes and flee. I sob and fit as I climb the hill and see the castle. Better there than back there.

The light is fading as I reach the arch to the entrance. The wolves were following me, but stopped at the arch. They seemed to fear the castle.

I sob with undue relief as I reach the doors. The light has gone and the stars are out.

The sheer shock is now hitting me as I hammer my hands to the doors. They open and Klote is standing there looking at me with sunken dark eyes. The look of a psycho.

I see Count Dracula standing there in his waist coat smiling at me, he parts his arms for me as I ran and dive into his cold embrace, "Thank the Lord! I am safe...God"

Dracula caressed my auburn hair and whispered, "what is wrong? What has terrified you so"

I pull back and look up to him, "they KILLED them...they killed ALL OF THEM!"

Dracula tilted his head, "who killed who...?"

I shake my head at him, my eyes watering, "those...those...those BEASTS!"

Dracula grinned at me and glanced at Klote as he did so, "Ohhhhhhh there is only ONE beast around here...", and he looked at her darkly, "...and that is ME"

And he tore into my jugular and ripped it out with his fangs...just like the wolf. Why am I still alive...I feel dazed and light headed as my dress is soaked through with ruby red blood.

The blood is smeared all over the Counts face who licked his lips with his tongue, "Your taste is so, so bitter...but who am I to complain?"

And he tore at me again.

VV

OXFORDSHIRE, ENGLAND, TODAY

I float...I am nothing...there is nothing but mists...cold mists that make my lungs so cold.

I hear him laugh in my head...I still feel him enter my behind...I still feel his teeth sinking into my soft skin.

I open my eyes I am on the roof of the building I work in. My lab coat is flapping about me as I hear myself say;

"Count Dracula...it is all over now, you must come with me..."

There is flood lights on the roof and Dracula is holding on to the crumbled form of Zoe Van Helsing. There is blood pooling from her wounds made my the fire arms of the security guards of Society.

Dracula called back to me, "You killed her...she did nothing to you"

"Her life is insignificant to our cause...she bore your child and that child you have spirited away, but isn't it a great experiment, Dracula? That you and her could even conceive a child? That is what we want from you...the know how...I have wanted a child for all of my life..."

Dracula laid his lover down to the cold concrete and brushed her face with his fingers and then stood up and approached her. The guards poised their machine guns on him.

"I know you..."

I swallow, "I know..."

"You...I know you, and it has just come to me from where we have met...you are immortal"

I nod, "It's been over 200 years Count Dracula"

He nods to me, "my castle...that's where I turned you...you've regenerated well I see, are you a scientist now?"

I shake back my auburn hair and stand firm because I have waited so long for this, "Unlike you, I have not laid dormant...I have lived 200 years to this time...learning...changing...adapting...it's ME who is powerful now, not you...the hate I feel for you has reached its peak...it was ME who ordered the death of your human lover...and now...

...I have such plans for you..."

TO BE CONTINUED...


	14. KINDRED IMMORTAL - part 2

_Foreword; Some of this chapter uses passages from a previous story - The Immortal vows._

OXFORDSHIRE, ENGLAND, 2020

From the roof top, Count Dracula allowed himself be lead and confined to a cell, with only a small leather bunk to sit on for company. He smoothed hand over the wall, then went to the door and put his ear against it. There was a whole array of voices going on. Too many to individualize. He sighed and sat down onto the bunk and looked down to his shirt. Zoe's blood.

He thought back to recent events that brought him here;

_Zoe Van Helsing and the baby were in the medical wing of the secret scientific facility known as the Society. It hadn't taken Dracula too long to find where she was. He arrived in a cloud of bats and stood on the flat roof of the warehouse like building in the Oxfordshire countryside._

_The full bright moon that he adored so much, was shining down on him as he approached a skylight and peered through it. A security guard with a handgun was present in the corridor inside._

_Was kind of place was this? The Johnny Harker Foundation was not this bad. And this was meant to be a place for scientific research._

_He put his hand through the glass of the skylight and unlatched it. He then climbed through, conjuring up an invisible sound barrier around the guards earring._

_The security guard was caught unawares as Dracula crawled across the ceiling and pounced on him and breaking his neck killing him._

_He picked up the hand gun and examined it, then tossed it aside and strode up the clinical corridor to a pair of double doors. His super-sensitive earring found the cry of a baby. He broke the handle of the door and pushed it inward to see the medical wing. Zoe Van Helsing was on a trolley with her legs up in stirrups. Three people were present with her under the clinical lights, surgically masked individuals in white plastic aprons grasped the infant as it cried in a wrap._

_Zoe looked tired, although he doubted it was natural. The woman had been probably drug induced._

_With no sound at all, Dracula jumped to the ceiling and crawled along. He could see Zoe's tired eyes look up and recognise him. Dracula put a finger to his lips._

_Then a door opened and a woman with auburn hair tied back and wearing a white lab coat came forth. Dracula sensed something about her, but couldn't pin-point it._

_"Awwww the child...is it a boy?"_

_"Yes"_

_The woman smiled, "give him to me..."_

_The medic in the surgical mask handed over the baby to her. The woman's eyes looked down to him, "you surely are an enigma, aren't you?"_

_Zoe moved her head, "I want him..."_

_The woman who held the baby came to her side on the trolley, "he really is quite beautiful, does he get that from you or his unnatural father"_

_"Please...I want to hold my baby"_

_The woman's attitude grew harsh at her, "No...I can not permit it...I cannot take the chance of the boy attaching itself to you"_

_Dracula narrowed his eyes and looked at the woman. Who was she? She is familiar._

_The woman smiled at Zoe, "we need to take samples of your blood Zoe...we need to know how a conception of this has taken place...and learn from it"_

_Zoe swallowed down, there was fear in her eyes._

_"Don't worry, Zoe...you are a scientist yourself...you should KNOW the needs for this kind of important research in the abnormal"_

_And she walked off with the child. Zoe tried to move, but she was clamped down and a needle was shoved in her arm_

_Later, Zoe had been put in a cell. She sat half drugged with her hair lank on the bunk staring at the floor, and wondering if she was dreaming all of this. How could Jack do this to her? Betray her._

_There was a sudden sound and she looked up to see the door to the confine swing open and Dracula entered._

_She stood up, "It's you..."_

_Dracula smiled at her and she allowed herself to fall into his arms and she rested her head onto his chest, "I thought I was dreaming...I saw you on the ceiling...I wasn't sure you were real"_

_He stroked her hair, "no...I'm real", he reassured._

_She pulled away and looked up to him, "they want our son"_

_Dracula tilted his head in understanding, "I know"_

_Zoe wasn't sure Dracula was on side, "will you let that happen? For them to take him?"_

_Dracula met her eyes and holding them, "the boy is of my blood...blood is lives...but I feel no emotional attachment"_

_Zoe averted her eyes away from him looking deflated, "then they are free to do what they will with him"_

_Dracula grabbed her upper arms to force her to look at him again, "no...you are the boys mother...for that reason, I will not allow the child to come to any harm...", he lifted her chin, "...you'll have to trust me"_

_"Trust you...?", she whispered losing her gaze into him._

_He chuckled, "It's not so hard, is it? Come now..."_

_He took her hand and they left the confine and he lead her down the corridor. They found where the baby was sleeping in a incubation unit. Dracula had to kill two security guards on route. The first one had his neck twisted and the second was suffocated by a hand over the nose and mouth._

_Zoe couldn't be appalled to the macabre. She lifted the baby from the incubator and cradled him in her arms, "my baby...", she whispered with a soothing tone._

_Dracula came forth and coaxed her into the corridor, "quickly...we have to go"_

_Zoe held the baby close to her as she was pulled up the corridor by Dracula, "Where? Where can we go", she said with an once of hope._

_Dracula stood tall and looked above, "we go up in the world...", with swift superhuman moves and unearthly strengths, he jumped to the ceiling and twisted the skylight lock out of shape and opened the hatch._

_He looked down to her holding out his arms, "now...give me the baby"_

_Zoe sudden felt a rush of over protective emotions, and shook her head, "no..."_

_Dracula narrowed his eyes at her, "Do you want him to live?"_

_"Yes!"_

_"Then pass him up to me...", Zoe kissed the boys forehead, and then held him up for Dracula to gather into his arms, he looks at the baby and smiles, whilst glancing down at Zoe, "see...I'm not going to eat him, am I...although I did miss my last meal and it is so very tempting..."_

_Zoe had a sudden onset of fright and jumped up, "no..."_

_Dracula shook his head, "I'm joking...", he placed the baby on the roof and gave Zoe his hand, she grabbed it and he lifted her out the corridor and through the skylight like she was lite as a feather._

_On the roof, Zoe gathered up the child and Dracula took her hand and they made for the outer wall ladders that would take them to the ground. But from all around them the flood lights came on nearly blinding them in the darkness._

_A voice called out, "Count Dracula...there is no escape"_

_Zoe looked down to the ground below, it was too far of a drop. She looked at Dracula, "the baby...they'll take the baby"_

_Dracula focused on the child and shook his head, "no...they won't", he took the bundle from her and there was an unnatural blur. A flickering of reds and green. Zoe felt like she was fallen, but she was still on the facility roof top. Dracula held her close as they both fell to their knees._

_She tried to focus. Where was the baby?_

_"Where is he? WHERE IS HE?", she cried._

_Her eyes are wide for him. Dracula tried to be reassuring, "somewhere safe"_

_"Where?"_

_Dracula pulled her close to him, he spoke into her ear, "he will come to no harm Zoe...he is beyond the mortal plain now"_

_They both could see a group of figures approach them in the blinding flood lights, "We want the baby..."_

_Dracula stood firm and let Zoe go, to focus on the newcomer, "well, that's too bad...there's no longer a baby to be had"_

_Jack Seward was behind Rosa, "where is he?"_

_Rosa didn't look at him, she spoke whilst focusing on the Counts cold eyes, "I have my suspicions...but I can but try to force his hand...", she turned to the security guards around them, "...kill the woman"_

In the cell Dracula could still hear the last screams Zoe rang out before she fell dead into his arms.

He swallowed down wondering what magic was used on the door to stop him from opening it. When he tried, he was blasted by some electric force that hurt him.

Rosa watched him on the flat screen in her small laboratory. Jack turned to her with a burning question, "he said that he knows you"

Rosa didn't take her eyes off the screen as she nodded, "he does"

Jack frowned at her, "from where?"

Rosa cracked a smile and met his eyes, "it's a long, long story Jack - as long as the centuries that have long since passed by"

Jack understood her hint, "you are like him...I suspected as much when I joined the Society"

She confirmed it as she smoothed back her auburn hair and turned back to the screen, "yes, I am a vampire"

Jack swallowed down. He thought about poor Zoe. All this was for nothing, "did she have to die...?"

Rosa shrugged, "she was just a vessel...it was the child I wanted"

Jack turned his attention to the flat screen, where Dracula was sitting on the bunk, "where...where do you suppose he hid him...?"

Rosa tilted her head as she mused, "the past probably..."

"Vampires can do that?"

Rosa chuckled, "we are not time travelers , Jack...but he somehow manages to do what he did with the child...it's an ability I am yet to explore, he has had longer to master it than me...but...", she looked at him with sharp eyes, "...I will learn the secret"

Jack sat down in the swivel chair at the desk that was cluttered with research equipment, "if you forgive for saying, there doesn't sound there is much love lost from you over him..."

"The man is a monster...there is no man I hate more"

_"hello...I know you are there watching me you little harpie..."_

Rosa cursed as she forced the voice right out of her head, "shush! I didn't give you permission to speak"

Jack watched her closely, completely fascinated by all of this, "what..."

She shook her head, "mind conversing...it's a much more refiner contact than your mortal thought processes"

Jack licked his lips, "so...you wanted the child...what for exactly?"

Rosa paced about the lab with her hands in her white coat pockets, "because I want a child of my own...", she pointed towards the screen, "...he robbed me of that 200 years ago when he changed me...all these years I have felt barren and all alone...my mortal ability to bear children extinct..."

She looked over to him, "...but when you spoke of Zoe Van Helsing and Dracula, I was initially suspicious, but then...then I see that it is true, and Dracula did somehow pass his seed into her"

Jack stood, "but she never said how..."

"no...but he will tell me...he WILL tell me the secret..."

And both of their eyes turned to the flat screen to his image.

VV

Jack clutched the bag of blood and approached the confine. He keyed in the combination, and a hatch opened where he could see right through the thick door and he laid the bag on the fresh hold.

Dracula stood and looked at Jack through the hatch.

"Here...", Jack muttered, notioning the blood.

Dracula reached for the bag with his bound hands and looked up to meet Jack's eyes through the hatch, "a parcel of blood...dare I ask is it fresh?"

"As fresh as you are going to get it"

"Oh I don't know...there's always you"

Jack laughed, "you have to get me first"

Dracula shrugged, "there's time on my side...time is eternal for me"

"and for her..."

Dracula smirked at him, "Ohhh yes...the Holy harpie!"

Jack frowned, "I beg your pardon?"

Dracula enlightened him, "Your friend Rosa...hasn't she not informed you that she used to be a nun?"

Jack shook his head, she hadn't done.

"She wasn't a very good nun...she was a dirty little hoare filled with unclean thoughts, so the other harpies told her...", he looked at the bag of blood in his grasp, "...how do I open this if my hands are tied?"

Jack pointed his finger, "see the small tube on the top, remove the rubber cap and suck..."

Dracula did as instructed and he was soon sucking the bag dry, he licked his lips and savoured the taste as he stared at Jack through the hatch, "Mmmmm...a flavour of intellect...not yours is it?"

"No"

Dracula licked his lips again, "no...this is a female flavour...oh yes, this taste will do very nicely...", his dark eyes narrowed at him, "...especially when I find her"

"Impossible"

"NOTHING is impossible, dear Jack"

Jack went to lock up the hatch, "well...enjoy"

Before he could close it, Dracula called out, "do you sanction Zoe's death?"

Jack forced off the guilt he harboured, "it's not important"

Dracula laughed at him dryly, "you think so little of life...I sense your burning ambition to succeed in your chosen scientific fields...Zoe was a consequence I suppose...she was a fool to trust you"

"and SHE was a fool to get involved with you"

Dracula noted the bitterness, "but alas, she did"

Jack left the hatch open and was determined to get some answers, "how did you do it? How did you make that baby disappear...?"

Dracula looked at him with a playful shrug, "Jack...there is NO baby"

"But there WAS! Zoe's baby!"

"Ohhhh that baby...he's gone"

"where?"

Dracula smirked at him, "and why do you ask? Or is it NOT YOU who is asking?"

Jack closed his eyes, but his thoughts betrayed him...

"Ohhhhh Rosa is asking...Jack, Jack, Jack...hush now...let me let you into a secret...I am a Vampire held in the first order...I go back 500 years and you certainly learn a thing or two in those long years, I can assure you...now...Rosa, she is from an order so down there...she will NEVER obtain my unique abilities, however much she so wishes them..."

Jack thought he had it, "The Immortal plain! Zoe told me that much..."

Dracula smirked at him, "the boy is beyond that..."

"SHE wants a child!"

"ohhhhh that's why she's keeping me here...let me guess...she wants the secret of conception enjoyed between a human and an Immortal?"

"yes..."

"I thought as much"

Jack had hope, "You will tell her?"

Dracula's smirk hardened at him, "she will remain as barren and empty as she was when I sucked that bitter life force out of her...all those years ago"

"what...?"

"you can run off and report back now...or is that thing watching us...", he nodded towards the instrument on the ceiling, "...a camera is it? I still get excited with all these little gadgets you humans have come up with"

As Dracula laughed at him, Jack slammed the hatch into place and hurried off up the corridor.

VV

Later Jack was reporting back to Rosa, "he is playing with you...he will not tell you anything"

Rosa wasn't going to let that stop her quest of having a baby. She put her hands together, "there are ways I can make him talk"

Jack frowned at her, "what ways?"

Rosa grinned at him, "starvation...exposure to sunlight..."

Jack bit his lip and was looking closely at her, "he said...you used to be a nun..."

Rosa sat down and turned to him, "you and him did have a conversation I see...yes, I was...it was a very long time ago and all that is now irrelevant"

She stood and made for the exit door of the lab, "now, if you excuse me I have to get back to work..."

Jack watched her go and turned to Dracula's image on the flat screen...only for him not to be on screen...heart racing, he stood and made for the door.

VV

Rosa was in the small mortuary and had Zoe's pale body on the steel slab. She prepared a needle and turned her back to prepare it, once she was satisfied, she turned back to drawer some blood, but she was aghast to see the halo'd figure of a nun lying where Zoe was a moment ago.

"What...?"

The nun sat up from the slab and smiled warmly at her, "please...don't be afraid Sister..."

Rosa stood back with the needle in her grasp, "sister? You are mistaken"

The nun smiled again, holding her cold eyes, "I'm afraid I am not...I know all of your past"

"Who are you?"

"I am Sister Agatha Van Helsing...an ancestor to Zoe Van Helsing, whom you had slain"

Rosa stared at the nun, she had like a soft glow around her, it was like she was bathed in heavenly light, "are you real?"

Agatha tilts her head, "that depends on what you view as being real"

Rosa tried a different approach, because this holy apparition made her feel uneasy, "Why are you here?"

"Such hatred you feel for HIM I sense..."

"Who?"

"Count Dracula of course...I can feel your pain Sister...he raped your heart as well as your soul"

Rosa didn't want to be reminded of such impure thoughts, "That all no longer matters...I only want one thing of him..."

Agatha understood, "you seek the knowledge of procreation between the likes of you and him, and of the mortal...your body has ached for so, so long for new life..."

Rosa was defiant, "HE knows the secret...who are you to judge? Is this God's punishment for killing Sister Helga?"

"Do you feel remorse for taking her life?"

Rosa raised her eyebrows, "for whom? Sister Helga's or Zoe Van Helsing?"

"Both"

"They are not important..."

Agatha seemed to glow a warmer yellow as she floated forward with her arms stretched out like she would embrace her, "Prayer with me Sister...all you have to do is repent your sins"

Rosa shook her head in contempt, to her, Agatha's face kept switching to the red face of the vile Helga, "Never! Helga wouldn't let me leave...she paid dearly for her abuse!"

"Yet you hope to be blessed with a child?"

"HE will tell me the secret"

Agatha's smile was thinly spread, "From one who's child is gone?"

Rosa looked up, "He spirited him away"

Agatha nodded, "yes...his biggest mistake..."

VV

Jack Seward moved up the corridor, he turned the corner and heard is name called out in a tense whisper, "Jack..."

He stopped in his tracks.

"Jack..."

He swung around, the ghostly voice was behind him, and Dracula was there standing in the corridor.

"How the fuck did you get out!", cried Jack.

He ran to the confine and hastily keyed in the digits and opened the hatch. There was nobody in the cell. He opens the door and turns to face Dracula in the corridor, but from behind the doorway an arm stretches out and grabs him by the throat forcing him out into the corridor.

As his face his pressed up against the wall, Jack manages to turn his head to see the Smiling Count Dracula up the corridor simply fade away.

"Mind tricks", he cried.

Dracula was in his ear hole, "I'm afraid so...but I really have had enough of being cooped up in there, like a bat, I need to go spread my wings..."

Jack's heart was pumping so fast it threatened to beat right out of his chest, "What are you going to do with me...?", he asked, gulping down in fear as he asked.

Dracula chuckled as he turned Jack around to face him, "You surprise me...a very simple question for a supposedly intelligent man...", he took Jack's cheeks in his hands and stared at him, "...I'm going to put you put of your misery"

And he twisted Jack's neck right round breaking his spinal cord, his body spasmed and crumbled to the floor, Dracula stepped over him and looked down with a dry chuckle, "Ohhhh Jack...a slave to research, poor boy..."

VV

In the facility's blood bank store, Rosa grabbed a dosage for herself. She didn't see the mist from the door and the figure standing behind her grinning away.

"If it's from the same source you you gave me, I can recommend the flavour"

Rosa clutched the blood bag tightly, and turned around to face him, "you"

Dracula nodded and came forward, "how long did you think you could keep me locked up for, Ahmm Rosa?"

Rosa swallowed down, and met his dark alluring eyes, "I just want the secret"

Dracula shrugged and circled her as he spoke, "I hate having to kill Vampires...but sometimes there is a need for it"

Her eyes pleaded at him, "I just want a baby...YOU robbed me of that of me...YOU owe me the know how"

Dracula smirked and leaned into her face, "and as I informed your dearly departed friend Jack, that isn't an option...your feeling of complete emptiness and sorrow will be as eternal as your pathetic little life"

Rosa dropped the bag of blood and it's red contents spoiled the floor, "I can't go on without a child...I'd rather die"

He placed a hand over her shoulder, "I can end your misery, Rosa...that's if I want to, I might like to see you suffer"

Rosa lifted her eyes to him and the sorrow turned to twisted contempt for him, "help me? It was YOU who did this to me! I could make you kill me...end it for me"

Dracula shook his head, "No, the thought of torturing your soul is more pleasing"

Rosa wasn't going to let that happen, she would win in the end, "You THINK you helped your son...but you didn't"

Dracula looked at her, "you've lost me..."

Rosa licked her lips, "I don't think so...Sister Agatha has told me the whole sorry story, Count Dracula..."

This was getting to him, he frowned equal contempt at her, "What do you know of HER? Explain!"

There was a relishing element in her tone, "You spirit away your son to the past...to keep him safe from the future...but", she licked her lips and leaned right into him with a finale whisper, "...the only danger he would face in the past IS YOU...YOU killed him"

"Shut up with your words, you stupid harpie, you making no sense"

Rosa delivered the final blow, "your son was brought up by gypsies, Count Dracula, a people you detest more than those of the Holy order"

Dracula shook his head, "you lie"

"NO...Agatha was most enlightening with her tale...his name was Fitz..."

_Fitz turned around and widened his eyes at the sight of the coach and horses speeding up towards them._

_Cain sprinted forward. The bramble was too thick at the edges of the road to take safety. Fitz gasped as he looked around at the sound of a cracking whip. Cain shouted at him, "never look back...never"_

_But his Uncle tripped on a stone and went flying to the ground. He cried out in pain as his knee was gaping open where his pants were torn through._

_The swag they had stolen went flying into the bracken and was lost. Fitz turned and saw his Uncle on the ground. He went to approach him and help._

_"Noooooo, get away!", cried his Uncle seething in pain._

_Fitz backed off as the coach and horses came crashing forward and ran straight into his Uncle as he tried to stand. It was all to late._

_Cain's body was trampled on like a rag roll, and his battered body was soon beneath the wheels of the coach. Being dragged along. His skin was ripping from his bones and his cries of pain were soon silenced as his body was left twisted on the track behind the coach._

_Fitz gasped as he backed into the thorny bracken. A hawthorn bush. If the legends of his people were correct, he should be safe. The thorns were dangerous to a vampire. The coach was at a stop. The horses whining. And snorting in anticipation._

_Dracula jumped out of the coach and looked towards the lad, "You...boy...come here", he ordered._

_Fitz swallowed down and although the bracken thorns was cutting him to shreds, he crawled further in. His heart racing and threatening to beat right out of his chest._

_Dracula was amused and laughed, "Oh come on...must I really do all the chasing?"_

_Fitz had tears rolling down his cheeks. All he could hear was his Uncle's last dying cries in his head._

_"...look, if this is about your Uncles little accident, I can assure you it was unavoidable...", he chuckled as his dark eyes narrowed scanning the forest, "...but I must say, his last cries of pain were silenced far too quickly...I'll bravely promise you that yours won't be..."_

_Fitz reached the end of the stood up and caught Dracula's eye._

_"Ah! There you are...", he went to come forward and gasped at the Hawthorn bush, "...ahhhh...just like a good gypsy from the old country, you know all the legends...it's a shame, how I would loved to have savoured that young supple flavour of yours..."_

_Disappointed, Dracula looked up to the night sky and lifted his hands and parted them, he laughed out loud, "I hope you can run young boy...because you will need to..."_

_And with that, Fitz was running though the trees of the forest. _

Dracula collapsed to his knees like a thunderbolt had struck him.

Rosa was laughing at him, "YOU FAILED! AND YOUR SON PAID DEARLY FOR YOUR FAILURE!"

_It was in the late afternoon shadows, the two nuns arrived back to the village. As they entered the tavern, Mr Kruger was sat ashen faced._

_Sister Mary went over to him to where sat in a chair near the taverns fireplace, "Mr Kruger what is it...you look like you have just seen a ghost"_

_The inn keeper looked at her. His eyes were wide, "It...it is the gypsy boy..."_

_"Fitz? What about him?"_

_"After you left here this morning for the manor house, I went into the stable to ready the shire horse for the cart to collect an ale delivery in town..."_

_Mary nodded, "yes..."_

_He looked at her and the horror in his eyes betrayed him. Mary made her way to the back, Mr Kruger got up, "sister no"_

_But it was too late, Sister Mary was already in the stable, and the horror was clear in her eyes as she looked up to Fitz swinging on a hang man's noose from the rafters._

_His neck had been slit open, and there was a pool of dried and congealed blood under where he swung._

The rage was building up rapidly, as Rosa laughed at him. Dracula's eyes were bloodshot and wild as he sprang up from his knees, and grabbed Rosa so fast they both went flying into the wall. Rosa gasped as Dracula cupped her neck and crushed her windpipe, he then repeated smashed her head up against the wall, before throwing her down from the ceiling where she lay crumbled in a heap staring up at him with glazed over eyes.

Dracula 's hair hung in his face as he breathed heavily looking down to her, he then glided to the floor and pushed his hair back looking down at her.

"Thank you for ending the misery for me Count Dracula...", she uttered to him in a dying whisper.

Dracula smiled through manic overtones, "it was a fucking pleasure..."

She laughed, "It's just a pity that I couldn't finish the story...and now, you will never know..."

Dracula frowned, he bent down and shook her by the shoulders, "know what? KNOW WHAT?!"

And Rosa died in a sprinkling of dust.

EPILOGUE...

SOUTHERN GERMANY, 1862

The gypsies came for the body of Fitz and he was carried away on a beautiful caravan of wild summer flowers.

He laid peaceful on his back in a traditional coat and with arms crossed over his chest.

The sun was shining and there was a somber mood of his kin. The warmth of those summer rays hit his ice cold skin as he felt it...

and he opened his eyes...

END


	15. The Conflicted Soul - Part 1

EPILOGUE

ST MARYS CONVENT 1885

The very old Sister Mary was on her death bed as she clawed on to the much, much younger Sister Agatha. The older nuns grey eyes looking desperate...

_"There was a dream I had, that Dracula had a son. He was born in the future and to keep his boy safe, he was inexplicably spirited away here to the past. Count Dracula is an intelligent individual. But he overlooked the fact that he actually put his son in mortal danger. Overlooked the fact that his past self was here too..._

_I met the boy. The boy was adopted by gypsies, and his name was Fitz..."_

Sister Agatha was fanscinated by Count Dracula. She had always have been. This illegically immortal creature living for so many long centuries and not changing or aging at all.

In the soft candle glow, she looked down to Sister Mary, "tell me...tell about this dream..."

And the old nun shook her head and began...

1842

The baby was in the basket and wrapped in a white sheet at the gates of the convent. A nun heard the baby cry and was running to the iron gates and pointed and raised the alarm.

"What in God's holy land is this? An infant left for us at the gates?"

"Sister Jeanette, take the baby inside it is freezing out here"

The nun gathered up the infant from the gates, "yes, Sister Mary"

The infant was soon in front of the warming fire of the convent, and a crowd from the holy order wanted to make a fuss of the young one.

One of the younger nuns looked down at the baby with a hand across her heart, "What heartless woman could have left him here? He could have died of exposure"

Sister Mary was warming up some milk for the child, "we are not here to judge sister, we are here to keep this baby safe in our care until we are guided of what to do about him"

Sister Jeanette had a warm smile, "poor thing...all I will say that the mother must have been desperate...surely she is not heartless, after-all, she left the infant at our gates...rather than abandoned in the woods to be ravaged by wolves. The Mother must have known we would take care of him"

Sister Mary gave the baby the milk and realised how dark his eyes were. It unnerved her a little, but this was a sweet innocent child.

"tomorrow, we will go down to the village and speak to the people...we will get to the bottom of this..."

_"OF COURSE NOBODY DOWN IN THE VILLAGE KNEW ANYTHING ABOUT THE LOST BABY. AND AS FAR AS THE VILLAGE SQUIRE SAID, HE DIDN'T KNOW OF ANY GIRL THAT HAD BEEN PREGNANT"_

Sister Mary placed the child into the crib and looked up to the cross, "Guide us oh Lord...help us find a loving family to place him in their care..."

_"AND MY PRAYER WAS ANSWERED, ONLY A FEW DAYS LATER, A COUPLE CAME UP TO THE CONVENT WANTING TO ADOPT THE CHILD. THEY WERE GYPSIES FROM THE NEARBY TRAVELLING CIRCUS. A YOUNG COUPLE WHO WERE NOT BLESSED WITH A CHILD OF THEIR OWN..."_

The gypsy couple stood at the convent gates and watched Sister Mary bring forth the child in his crib.

_There was a sense of watching eyes from the woods and she hoped it wasn't those of hungry wolves..._

The girl's eyes lit up at the sight of the baby and the nun could see the longing in her eyes to nurture a child of her own. The sun was shining, and it was a beautiful first day the child would have with his new parents.

The man, named Darius, thanked the nun for the child. They each in turn looked to the baby and then they were on their way to begin their new life.

Sister Mary closed the convent gates and held the bars and stared on as they left for their colourful gypsy caravan and it soon moved away pulled by one lone horse.

_There was bats about in the day time. And they seemed to follow the caravan...and it sent a shiver down her spine._

_AND THAT WAS THE LAST I SAW OF THIS BABY...OR SO I THOUGHT AT THE TIME...IT WAS 20 YEARS BEFORE I WAS TO SEE HIM AGAIN..._

1862, GERMANY.

The two nuns strolled down the lane and turned the corner. The field was empty. The Inn-keeper had said that this was where the circus had settled, but it had already packed up and gone along it's way, "there...", pointed Sister Ruth.

Sister Mary could see the line of colourful gypsy caravans being pulled up the lane over the yonder in the late afternoon haze.

"Sister Mary, one caravan has been left behind...look"

Ruth was right, in the field was a caravan, but it looked like that it had been ravaged by fire.

Crossing the field of long grass, the nuns cautiously approached the wreck. Both of them nearly jumped out of their skins when Fitz came out from behind it.

He was pointing to the his disappearing clan, "they have ousted me...Uncle Cain was killed by HIM...they say it's put a blight on the community... they turned their backs on me"

Sister Mary was gentle, "Young man...what is it...your Uncle is dead?"

Fitz nodded, he was sweating in the heat, "HE killed him...trampled him to death with his horses...and then he went under the wheels"

The older nun glanced to the younger one, "Count Dracula?"

Fitz nodded, unable to utter that dreadful name.

Ruth frowned, "but why would the rest of them shun you"

"They think he will come after ME..."

Sister Mary understood, "rest easy...come with us...there is no way you can stay in that thing", she nodded towards the charred out shell of his mobile home.

"Where is your Uncle's body", asked Ruth.

"It was on the road...but now it is gone...HE must have moved it...disposed of his works like he always does"

Mary glanced to the heavens, the late afternoon seemed to pick up a breeze that rustled the leaves of the trees in the thick forests around them, "it is getting late...we must head back to the inn, we can talk again there"

Fitz took one final glance at his blackened abode, and then followed the two nuns across the long grass towards the lane.

_"OF COURSE IT DIDN'T OCCUR TO ME WHOM HE WAS. I WILL ADMIT, ALTHOUGH I DID KEEP THIS FROM SISTER RUTH, THAT FITZ'S EYES WERE SO VERY VERY DARK AND THAT THEY WERE FAMILIAR TO ME, I JUST DIDN'T KNOW FROM WHERE..."_

At the Inn in the village, Mr Kruger looked at the gypsy boy, "has he even any money for the bed?"

Sister Mary nodded, "I will cover the costs for him...he is so very tired after his ordeal"

Fitz looked at her. Those dark eyes staring back at her. They were kind, but they could just as easily be mistaken as cold by those who did not know him.

Sister Mary watched him eat a plate of food Mr Kruger had prepared.

"You and your Uncle traveled with the circus?"

Fitz nodded chewing his food, "Yes..."

"What about your parents...are they with the circus also?"

"No...they died...in a fire..."

"I'm so very sorry to hear that", Sister Mary soothed.

The gypsy boy nodded, "They were not my real parents...they adopted me when I was a baby"

"Oh?"

"I sort of dream about my birth mother...she is dressed in strange clothes...and she has a sad face...I don't know where she is"

Sister Mary sat back, "A foreigner maybe? What about your father?"

Fitz was unsure, "I don't know...dark...cold...it's just a feeling, but I get scared, because it reminds me of HIM..."

And he looked at her with the dark eyes.

_"OF COURSE I COULD SEE THOSE DARK EYES IN COUNT DRACULA...BUT...AT THE TIME , IT JUST DIDN'T SPRING TO MIND, AND THERE WAS SO MUCH MORE GOING ON WITH WARNING THE SQUIRE OF THE MANOR, ABOUT DRACULA FEEDING FROM HIS DAUGHTER...AND THE OPPORTUNITY OF MORE TALKING WITH HIM WAS CUT SHORT..."_

It was in the late afternoon shadows of the next day, the two nuns arrived back to the village After trying to warn the squire about the danger to his daughter. As they entered the tavern, Mr Kruger was sat ashen faced.

Sister Mary went over to him to where he sat in a chair near the taverns fireplace, "Mr Kruger what is it...you look like you have just seen a ghost"

The inn keeper looked at her. His eyes were wide, "It...it is the gypsy boy..."

"Fitz? What about him?"

"After you left here this morning for the manor house, I went into the stable to ready the shire horse for the cart to collect an ale delivery in town..."

Mary nodded, "yes..."

He looked at her and the horror in his eyes betrayed him. Mary made her way to the back, Mr Kruger got up, "sister no"

But it was too late, Sister Mary was already in the stable, and the horror was clear in her eyes as she looked up to Fitz swinging on a hang man's noose from the rafters.

His neck had been slit open, and there was a pool of dried and congealed blood under where he swung.

"I'm sorry...", said Mr Kruger.

1885

_"...THE BOY WAS DEAD...DRACULA LATER TOLD ME THAT KILLING HIM WAS A WAY TO PASS THE TIME...BUT HE HAD UNKNOWINGLY TORTURED AND KILLED HIS OWN BLOOD"_

Sister Agatha had been rivited by the story, "But...couldn't Count Dracula sense that this was his son? The smell of his blood? Surely he would know with his unnatural abilities"

"The boy was of the future...I didn't know then...it was some years after, I had the dream, and it all fell into place"

Sister Agatha knew the old nun was near death. She wanted to know it all, "If Dracula was his father...who was the boys mother?"

Sister Mary closed her eyes, "I do not know...a mortal at a guess...and I don't know how that could have happened...but I feel that you will one day find out the answer..."

1862

When the boys death was announced, and even though his clan had shunned him, the gypsies claimed the body of Fitz and he was carried away on a beautiful caravan of wild summer flowers.

He laid peaceful on his back with arms crossed over his chest.

The sun was shining and there was a somber mood of his kin. The warmth of those rays hit his cold skin as he felt it...

and he opened his eyes...


	16. The Conflicted Soul - Part 2

1885

_Sister Agatha took the old nuns hand into hers. The elderly sister was getting feeble with her story as God's calling to his eternal garden was close._

_"What happened to the boy...the gypsies claimed his body?"_

_Sister Mary closed her long tired eyes, "the boy woke. They carried him off...that was on my dream and I know it is true...he opened his eyes and came back like the lord Jesus"_

_"but he had his throat cut...there is no way anybody could...but I suppose with the fast healing formula in his body"_

_Sister Mary nodded._

_"But what became of him...where did he go?"_

_Mary met her eyes, "So many questions...yes...he lived and he was shunned by his clan...they said he was now the spawn of the devil...a demon from the hell fires that had taken over his mortal body"_

_"But he lived?"_

_"Yes...and in my dream he was rescued from a torrid mountain river by a hunter of evil things..."_

_"tell me..."_

_"he was also in mortal danger from a coven of gypsy witches that were hellbent to destroy the demon they said he had become..."_

1863

Up in the mountains, deep in the thick forests, the cave entrance glowed.

The Gypsy hag was old and wizened. But she was the mother flame. Through her grey eyes she looked into the fires in the cauldron, "the boy is an abomination...and the red gypsy flames have told me that his path will be a dark one, even though he does not know it"

The coven of red witches in their sack cloth robes, gathered around the flames that aluminated the cave that was the site of their temple.

"he is cursed...they say that!", said her novice.

Another of the coven stepped forward ad pointed a finger at her, "His clan did...but for a mortal to die and be resurrected on the same day is not a good sign...for a boy who was found to have extraordinary strength, and the will of a thousand men shows how deep the unnatural essence runs through him"

A raven haired girl nodded her head, her face glowing in the soft fire light,"He was found they say...by the nuns at the convent. They took him in from the wolves and gave him to a good home within the clan"

The wizened old hag looked at her and considered her input, "Yes...that is so...but he was in no danger from the salivating jaws of the those filthy beasts...there is a dark aura that protects him...a darkness that shields him from those who will him dead"

A coven member that was know to rebel at times glared at her, "Like you?"  
The old hag shot a returning glare that was so bright, that it threatened to out do the flames, "WE ARE THE SISTERS OF THE RED GYPSY FLAME, IT IS US WHO MUST PROTECT OUR PEOPLE"

The coven member who acted as medium in these debates waved out a calming hand, "We all know that mother flame...but what proof do we have that he is an abomination?"

The old eyes of the mother narrowed at her, "Only what is brought to us...the resurrection...the unnatural strength...the speed he can run...even his uncle used him when they chord for treasures...because he could see clearly in a moonless night"

The rebel shrugged, "But what danger, if there is any, that he can do us? Hasn't he been shunned by the clan? Expelled for forever and a day"

The mother flame agreed, "That might be so...but he still lives and whilst he lives...the land will be blighted...HE HAS NO PLACE IN THIS TIME...the star charts do not configure to his existence...it means that the future mapped out is uncertain...that he is above and beyond all of that"

The mother gathered up the gold sundial that was attached to a chain around her neck and closed her eyes. The calming influence watched her chant, "But what must we do...if you think that ALL our people are in danger...what is it we must do?"

The mother flame was matter of fact as she opened her eyes and answered her, "The boy must die...he must be burnt alive in the eternal fires of the red gypsy flame...his screams of pain must ring out until they are silenced...FOREVER..."

XXX

Fitz approached the river in the late afternoon shadows. Since he had been banished from the clan, he had been living in the mountain woods. His only friends were the wolves, they seemed to respect him. They always had done since as long as he could remember. He looked down to the water and stooped to get a handful of water to drink. Bringing the refreshing water to his dry mouth he could sight of the watcher.

He had been watched before...he had felt their fire eyes on him.

He heard the wind rush through the trees and the waft of burning incense.

He eyed the brush around him and then focused on the opposite side of the river. In the trees there was movement. The leaves rustled and the sound of chimes jiggled in the breeze. He felt unnerved. He tried to look closer ahead but in turn, he lost his footing on the river bank and fell in.

After forcing his head out from the freezing cold torrid, he screamed in terror because he had always been afraid of fast running water.

He tried to grab onto things that over hung the river bank. A fallen log, a hanging tree branch and a rock or boulder. But the rapids were too wild and he failed to gather any strong hold as he was forced along but the fast moving current.

He felt like he was passing out. Faces came to his mind. An old hag willing him to die...the chants evaded his ears...a chorus of DEATH-DEATH-DEATH.

Suddenly a woman in strange clothes held her hand out to him...she was calling to him...and then he was forced out of the water by strong arms and dragged onto the reeds of the riverbank.

XXX

Fitz loved the sunrise...but he of course loved the moonlight more. The man who saved him from the river, Captain Kronos looked at him and then at the sun rising it's golden rays over the faraway mountains. The morning dew glistering like diamonds.

"The sun gives life to the land"

Fitz nodded, "It does"

Kronos started to cook pheasant he had plucked earlier on the fire, "And what of you boy? You say your people have expelled you, but you have no care?"

Fitz could hear the crackling of the fat hitting the flame, "I don't need them...my destiny is not with those who have raised me"

Kronos turned the meat on the spit, "You still want to travel with me"

Fitz came and sat opposite him watching the colour turn as the white meat browned, "yes.. after you rescued me and told me about your adventures...I like your way of life...snuffing out the evil in this this land"

Kronos smiled at him and looked across to a fair large spans of water in the valley, "The lake is like crystal..."

"the suns rays dance off it...but the moons rays are better"

Fitz then spotted some apples on a tree and jumped up on his feet and climbed the tree better than any agile primate, "The life energy that bounces off you boy...I have seen nothing like it"

The boy tossed the two apples towards Kronos and jumped down from the tree branch that was as high as a two story dwelling, "Nor have the clan...they said I was special...that I was a lucky charm that would bring my people good fortune"

Kronos took the meat off the flames, "And were you lucky for them?"

"I was...I used to go out chore with my Uncle Cain...I can see in the dark better than any nocturnal creature, that's what he told me"

"what else?"

"My speed...I can run faster than a spooked dear...I can lift a fallen oak tree like it was a feather weight...once, a bear chased me in the woods and I jumped right to the top of a spice tree...he had no chance of getting at me"

"You really are an enigma...aren't you", he handed over some of the meat to the boy he was slicing through with a ornate knife.

The boy sat back chewing the fatty meat, "I will be lucky for you...the Vampires you seek...those you would kill...I will be a great asset"

Kronos raised an eyebrow at him, "You've seen a Vampire boy?"

Fitz licked his grubby fingers, "I have seen the mightiest one ever to walk the land...Count Dracula...HIM my people call him...the dark one, the dark prince that has killed a thousand mothers in my clan...and my uncle...the one with the dark eyes that can send a shiver down the spine of even the strongest of men..."

Secretly, Kronos knew the story, "The one that killed you?"

The boy's eyes grew darker if that was possible, "Yes...he killed me...but I somehow rose from God's calling...The sun shone down on me and my heart started to beat again...and I opened my eyes and wanted my people to be happy"

"But they were not?"

"They think I am some spirit, that I cannot be human...that if I ever was human at all"

1885

_Sister Agatha frowned at Sister Mary, "He joined this man on his travels? Who is this Captain Kronos?"_

_The ancient eyes looked up to her, as Mary spoke, "Captain Abel Kronos...Vampire hunter...Vampire killer...his mother was of middle England, his father of Prussian heritage. He was raised here, and is fluent in 6 different languages" _

_There was a clap of thunder._

_And the rain lashed the window._

_Agatha thought about the story, and turned, "This Kronos...he saved Fitz from the river...but he had been following him...hadn't he?"_

_Mary nodded, "the deadliest of enemies are the ones you don't quite expect..."_


	17. The Conflicted Soul - Part 3

1885

_The convent in the mountains lights up in a flash of lightening and a clap of thunder._

_The needle like turrets seeming to touch the night sky._

_Sister Mary tried to cling on to life as she carried on with her story. Sister Agatha was indeed interested, this was a whole new dimension in the existence of Count Dracula._

_"Fitz stayed with this Captain Kronos?"_

_"Yes...they traveled the land together helping those who are haunted by the sinners of evil..."_

1863

The small village was nested in between two huge mountain reaches in deepest Stygia. Fitz rode his wary horse along side Captain Kronos as they trotted out of the thick cool pine forests, and into the narrow cobbled main street of the village.

A mature man in tight breaches and a frilly white shirt came forward and removed his hat, "You are Captain Kronos?"

The captain looked down to him from his horse, "Yes...I hear that you are in need of my services?"

The man nodded in sadness, "A dark veil of death pours over our community"

Kronos nods and looks up and around him at the old housing with their window shutters nailed tight.

"Yes...it happens a lot here in these parts...", he looks at the man in the eyes, "...where is the body?"

The man turns and points to the barn nearby, "...it's in there"

Kronos dismounts his horse and looks to his new trainee, "come boy...come and see what you are now up against"

Fitz blinks in the bright sunny glare, and jumps off his own horse without unease at all. A gathering of cloaked villagers come out of their homes and crowd around the barn door as Kronos knelt down at the body and pulled back the sack cloth that was shielding it from the world.

A cloud of buzzing flies he swots off his person, as he looks at the tainted shriveled thing in the dress, "oh I see...the youth draining variety"

Fitz came forward and stared at the stinking wretch, "youth draining?"

Kronos nods and points to the corpse, "yes boy...there are all sorts of Vampire, this type of creature is rare, and can be elusive"

The mature man who had met them at the village perimeter stood nearby with a handkerchief to his face, "elusive you say? Then how can, in God's name, it be destroyed"

Kronos stood up and smiled some reassurance, "a Vampire of this type lives within the community...have there been any new arrivals to the village since this all started"

The man considered this, but another villager was quick to answer for him, "only that girl La-Freda...she looks like one of those filthy gypsy types, but she says she is of fine heritage"

Fitz didn't like this boy who had spoken up...filthy gypsy types indeed!

Kronos could see his new companion was giving this other boy evils and was quick to set his attention to the blood drained corpse to hand.

"See boy...see how this dried up old husk is all what remains of the victim"

"Zondralia", called a voice.

Kronos nodded, he didn't want to offend anybody, "yes...Zondralia"

The mature man stepped forward on to the dried straw of the barn floor, "she was only sweet sixteen...she is the squires daughter...when he found her, he went back to his house and hung himself"

Kronos looked back to the remains, "I'm afraid that does happen...the sense of grief after something this unnatural goes beyond any normal mourning"

The man took charge as there was a sense of unsettlement among the on looking villagers, "where do you want to begin?"

Fitz looked at him, Kronos smiled and turned to the man, "This La-Freda...where is it she lays her head?"

XXX

At the village tavern, the big fat inn keeper with a thick course beard pointed to yonder, "nay...she is out in the woods...she says she is one with nature"

Kronos nodded, "is it possible I can see where she lays?"

The inn keeper laughed somewhat as he swept up the front step of the tavern, "she is a siren who never sleeps, she is a night owl"

Fitz turns to see a girl approach with a basket of picked apples hanging from her elbow, he tugs at his new friends arm and points.

"Who seeks me?", she utters...her eyes are ice blue.

Captain Kronos straddles up to her in his knee high boots, "It is I who seeks you...you are La-Freda? I am..."

She cuts in to finish his introduction, "...yes, I am La-Freda...and you are Captain Abel Kronos, I know...I saw you arrive here along with the boy with the dark eyes"

Kronos chuckled as he looked towards Fitz, "he is a gypsy boy"

La-Freda also laid her eyes on him, her eyes were almost enticing to him, "I think he is far more that that"

The captain circled her as he spoke, she listened to him intently, "I am here to seek...the unnatural"

La-Freda almost fell down in far off amusement, "you think that I am unnatural, sire? I have you know that I am a virgin and am as pure as the high mountain snow"

She walks up to Fitz and smirks at him, "and what about you? Are you a virgin?"

Fitz was almost lost in those ice blue eyes, he had never seen anyone so beautiful...her hair was like fire, her skin so pale and so, so soft like pure silk.

Their moment was screwed up by a shout.

"HEY! YOU BOY! I SAW THE BITCH FIRST!"

Fitz looked up and saw a brute of a man come striding over in high boots and a grimace on his sun tanned face.

La-Freda was amused, "Oh come now, Paulo...I belong to nobody"

This Paulo strode up to Fitz and stared at him in ultra hatred, "YOU DARE TO LOOK AT HER...YOU? SOME FILTHY ROBBING GYPSY BOY?"

Fitz looked at him with his jet black eyes, "I fear that you should back off"

The brute laughed in his face, "WHY IS THAT? ARE YOU AFRAID THAT YOU WILL BE TOSSED ASIDE LIKE THE LONG STREAK OF STINKING PISS THAT YOU ARE"

Fitz felt the anger rising within himself, "I warn you BACK OFF!"

The brute's muscles flexed, "COME ON BOY...I SAW YOU TOUCH HER"

Fitz shook his head, "I never touched her"

"WHY NOT? WHAT'S WRONG WITH YOU"

Fitz went to turn away, but Paulo grabbed his arm and twisted him around and shoved him to the mud. Fitz was on his hands and knees in the mud and horse shit and looked up to him.

_In the future, Count Dracula opened his eyes..._

paulo grabbed the scruff of Fitz's neck and threw him to the ground and picked him up again and dragged him in the stinking shit by his hair.

_In the future, Count Dracula held out his hand and opened up his thumb and fingers._

Fitz was face down in the horse shit, Paulo's foot was keeping him down and was laughing. Kronos turned, "Get off him!"

"MAKE ME OR WILL YOU USE YOUR SWORD AND CUT ME DOWN?"

_In the future, Count Dracula closed his thumb and fingers._

Paulo was suddenly choking and clutching his neck, he fell to his knees in the shit and tried gasping for the breath that was no longer there.

"Ahhhhhhhggghhhh"

Fitz picked himself off the floor and smirked, his dark eyes dilated.

Captain Kronos leaped forward and pulled Fitz away to the edge of the barn, Paulo was on his back but was breathing at ease again.

_In the future count Dracula sat back in his chair and was troubled._

And La-Freda smiled.

XXX

Later in the tavern, the man that had welcomed them to the village stood at the bar with Captain Kronos.

"The boy has strength I have never seen"

Kronos shook his head, "yes"

"Some would see that as supernatural...others would see that as unnatural"

The captain looked at him with interest, "what do YOU see him as?"

The villager shrugged as he thought about his answer carefully, "I am not sure...the boy shows he wants to help...but his eyes are..."

"Dark...foreboding...?"

He nods, "There is a darkness in him that chills me to the core, and it cannot be his gypsy up-bringing"

Kronos leaned his elbow onto the bar top, "It isn't"

The man met his gaze, "You seem to know what it is..."

"Did I say that?"

"You hinted at it"

Kronos broke off into a chuckle, "There are many a thing I hint at sir...now lets get some ale in, and be merry...for tonight at least..."

XXX

2020

_The chess pieces are set. The sky is a deep orange against the outline of the ruins, as Count Dracula looks up from the game and smirks at his approaching guest. Sister Agatha in her habit robes and hair blowing in an unseen wind, settles down in the chair opposite him. _

_"You have mastered the tricks to summon me Count Dracula"_

_Dracula leaned back in his chair with a gold goblet of virgin blood at his lips, "Summon? I rather call in an invite, would't you?"_

_"Call it what you like...I am here"_

_Dracula reached out and gathered up her hand, "Ohhh I am glad you are"_

_"What is it? What do you want with me...can I ever rest in peace"_

_Dracula shook his head, "Not yet..."_

_"What is it"_

_"My son..."_

_Sister Agatha hovered a hand over the chess pieces, "Ohhh...you know what will become of him?"_

_Dracula shook his head, "I do..."_

_"You cannot stop ones destiny Count Dracula", she warned._

_Count Dracula smiled at her and stood, his eyes dark and narrowing, "I can...and I will...", he snatched her to her feet and was threateningly calm, "...and YOU are going to help me"_


	18. The Conflicted Soul - Part 4

ST MARY'S CONVENT 1885

As the storm passed over the Carpathian mountains and over the convent, Sister Mary was drifting in and out of consciousness. Sister Agatha wanted to know ALL the story of the dream, but she had to let the much, much older nun rest a while. There was a bright flash of lightening that lit up the sleeping nuns withered face. Agatha stood up and went to a basin and wrung out a damp cloth, and then gently placed it over Mary's forehead.

She just needed to wait for the old nun to rest a while, before she could listen to the rest of the story...and outside as the storm clouds were now gone, and the moon came out, the wolves sung to the distant thunder.

INTERLUDE:

CAMBRIDGE 2020

Fitz Van Helsing laid back on the university green and gazed up to the sky. The towers of the university campus in the foreground. A group of friends were with him as they joked about their days lectures.

"Old Mansfield needs to dust himself down and get a life...did you hear what he said to me?", gasped a blonde student with a pink T shirt.

Fitz laughed, "What? That you looked like you haven't slept in 3 weeks? That's per norm for a student...", he looked at him, "...and to be fair Robbie, he doesn't know what shit you are snorting up your nose"

A girl with a long braid laughed in her rainbow sunshades as another group of students passed by them, "I cannot believe you said that your parents actually finance the shit you take Robbie"

Robbie laughed, "What can I say...both of my parents are real class...they practically hold high office in the government and snort coke in the evenings"

Fitz raised his eyebrows, "and they say WHY is the county going quickly down the toilet with brexit and all that"

Robbie smirked.

Ellen, the girl, lifted her face to the warmth of the sun, "What about you Fitz? Do your parents let you snort all-sorts"

Fitz's face darkened, "My parents? My late Mother was a scientist and my Father is a monster, I don't think he'd care what I took or snort"

Ellen looked down to him, "but you are so smart...do you get that from them? You are good at everything"

Robbie chuckled, "You are only saying that because you want Fitzie boy to fuck you"

"Fuck off Robbie!"

Fitz gazed up at her, and smiled at her with his dark brooding eyes.

Count Dracula opened his eyes. Eyes that clearly were an inherit match. He leaped out of the bed and rubbed his temples. He looked about the dark room of his apartment and then went to the mirror.

SHE WAS IN IT. SISTER AGATHA. AND SHE WAS AMUSED.

_"Ohhh Count Dracula...you are dreaming of him again"_

Dracula's eyes were dark and cold as he glared at her, "WHY? IS THIS YOUR DOING? IS IT BECAUSE I HAVE FORCED YOU INTO HELPING ME? THAT YOU'VE DECIDED TO HAUNT ME WITH HIS...HIS..."

_Sister Agatha tilted her head in the mirror, "...his life how it should have been? Living in his correct time going to university and becoming someone educated and important in the far off future...?"_

Dracula shook his head, "that wouldn't have happened you stupid bitch...HE would have been kept as a test subject in a laboratory"

_"that is possible...but not impossible...that's the trouble with destiny...it can go off down all kinds of paths"_

Dracula buttoned up his shirt and pushed back his hair, "I did the right thing...it's better he lives in the past...I lived through it, for hell's sake...and so did you", he had to chuckle and his eyes twinkled at her as he remembered, "...that's before I killed you of course"

_"You didn't kill me Count Dracula...that is either an act of your wishful thinking or convenient memory loss"_

Dracula slipped into a dark suit and buttoned it up. He winked his eye to the mirror, "just hang on in there my sweet...I have dinner appointment to keep"

XXX

Count Dracula was no sooner on the tube train and sitting in his seat when a girl came to sit next to him. He turned his head and looked at her. She was in a rain mac and her long raven hair was soft and shiny, but he was of course more interested in that soft white neck and that delectable little pulse that was an open invitation.

He licked his lips.

Her blue eyes turned to look at him. Oh she was a naughty one. A little minx was the expression he learned. She licked at her own lips and then rested her hand over Dracula's thigh.

"Jenny's friend?", he asked her, with a twinkle in his eyes.

The girl looked about her then slipped of the rain mac to reveal the nakedness underneath.

She stood up in front of him.

Dracula looked up and down at her, and then smoothed his hands over her soft skin. His sharp finger nails probing certain areas where the girl would gasp and close her eyes.

"You are dirty little bitch aren't you", he mused.

She opened her eyes at him, "I will be as dirty and bitchy as you like, lover...Jenny told me the score"

Dracula held her eyes. They were sky blue and his own pupils grew darker as he bore into them, "Ohhhh Jenny...she was a flavour that was sweet...too sweet if I am to be honest...but I can see you are sweet enough"

The girl licked her lips, "I want it...I want ALL what she had and more"

"You want me to fuck you senseless...fuck you hard in the unnatural way...ohhh, there is a time and place for that my little harpy"

Dracula then heard the train come to a halt in a station...somewhere in Central London. The girl looked to the window and Dracula could see the mark on her shoulder...a symbol? He frowned.

Suddenly, quick as a flash, the girl reached down into the rain mac and grabbed out a crucifix, and tried to plaster it flat onto his forehead.

Dracula grabbed her wrist tightly, and forced her away at an arms length.

"YOU MUST DIE! YOU ARE AN ABOMINATION! MOTHER FLAME ORDERED IT! JUST LIKE HOW YOUR SEED DIED OUT OF HIS OWN TIME"

Dracula's eyes turned blood red, and he grabbed her by the neck and forced her head to the ceiling of the train carriage, she gasped for breath as he smashed the crane of her head six times before her eyes began to roll. He then grabbed her by the hair, and dragged her out of the train. The station platform was deserted. He could see the girl was starting to recover slightly. He heard the sound of the other train coming in.

He looked at her and tilted his head in pure amusement, before no sooner had the wind-rush of the train come in...the girl was being tore apart at the wheels, after he had hurtled her in front of it.

XXX

Dracula went straight home and forced an audience with Agatha. The nuns face was in the mirror.

_"So...I am summoned again!"_

Dracula dismissed her protests, "Never mind all that...I want to know what this means", he then reached for a piece of paper and drew with a pencil a symbol, and held it up to her, "...you have seen this?"

Agatha nodded, "Yes...yes I have"

Dracula shook his head in the soft light of his plush London apartment, "who are they? I met a girl on the tube earlier, she was branded with it, and from a long past of experience, I know this must be a symbol of some sect, am I right?"

_"your deductions are correct"_

He gritted his teeth, "Who? WHO ARE THEY?"

Agatha looked back at him, _"You are getting closer to learning the truth, I think"_

"What?"

_"The symbol you drew is the emblem of the red gypsy flame"_

"My boys clan?"

_"No...a cult that acts as a guardian...a foreseer of the clan and it's people"_

Dracula realised the truth, "you mean a coven of dried up old witches"

_"They are more than that...they are power...they are the ones that would destroy your son"_

Dracula found that thought amusing, "They are hellbent in destroying me it seems...but my son was in no real danger from them, was he? If they are so called foreseers of rancid gypsies, wasn't my boy one?"

In the mirror...Agatha thought back to the story Sister Mary told her...

XXX

1885

It was sunrise. The soft yellow beams of light reflected off from the stained glass window-lets of the convent, still wet from the storm.

Sister Mary didn't have long left to live. Her breathing is so laboured, but she was eager to finish the story what she started. The story of the boy who was living out of his time.

A boy that had no right to be living in the time he was placed.

A boy whose destiny cannot be predicted, because his time line didn't fit the constellations of any normal life.

Agatha gathered up her seniors hand and spoke to her in a hushed whisper that disappeared into the shadowy corners of the room.

The candles now burned down to their wicks and smoking.

Sister Mary managed to open her old and wary eyes and look at the younger nun. She seemed to smile at her. A veil of darkness was beginning to take shape in her life, and un-be-known to the younger nun, her destiny was just as much tainted as the boys.

"I will tell you the rest of it...the rest of the dream I had...but it is YOU who has to decide on what happens next...because when you and him meet, and you will, it is YOU who must decide if he is to know the complete truth...

...because changing it will do no good to anyone"


	19. The Conflicted Soul - Part 5

1885

_The convent was bathed in sunlight. A church bell rang in the far off distance over the mountains that choked with forest. Inside Sister Agatha was eager for the older nun's tale to be over. She wanted to know all of it._

_Sister Mary looked at her, and smiled as she continued in between her labored breaths. _

1863

Fitz drank ale in the tavern. From the dark shadows, La-Freda came over to him and tilted her head and watched him in the soft light from the fireplace.

"You and the Captain have been here for 3 days, and yet you haven't found the Vampire?"

Fitz looked up to her icy eyes, "she is very elusive"

La-Freda chuckled and sat down on the low wood stool opposite him, "oh come now...how do you know this Vampire is a she"

Fitz swallowed down and wiped the froth from the bitter ale from his lips, "most are"

"Is that what the Captain tells you?"

Fitz downs the rest of his ale and pushed the tankard aside and stood up. She looked up at him in question, "you are going to bed?"

He nods, "I am tired"

La-Freda smooths a hand over the lacy satin of her cloak, "but such strength you have...like the other evening with your rumpus with Paulo"

Fitz shrugged, "What of my strength?"

La-Freda's face was all shadowy in the flickers of light, "Your heart is dark"

"My heart?"

Like unholy magic, La-Freda holds Fitz's gaze, "You and I are the same"

Fitz's head was fuzzy, he holds his stance, "the same...?", he uttered.

La-Freda nods, "your deepest desires are not yet met OR satisfied. Where did the Captain find you Wonder?"

Fitz shook him self out of her hold and moved to the stairs, "you are strange...you say I have a dark heart? Your mind is darker"

La-Freda was suddenly at unease, "why do you say that? How would you know?"

Fitz smiled and strode up the stairs.

XXX

_Fitz was floating. It was all misty and vague. There were faces calling out to him. One was a woman who was a stranger, but was somehow, very familiar._

_He tossed and turned in his bed, up in the tavern's top room in the roof space. He moaned in his sleep as a dark veil of darkness struck him._

_Eyes so dark._

_And a whisper._

He opened his eyes and sat up in bed. The sweat was pouring off from him. The wind had picked up outside as a low lying mist came from underneath the door and danced at the base of his bed.

And there it was. It formed from the mists. A hooded figure of a woman. She sung to him in his head. Like a siren of death.

Fitz clamped his hands over his ears and tried to shut out the song.

The hooded figure reached out a pale finger within the robes and pointed at him. Fitz jumped off the bed and tried for the door, but it was like the mists had glued his feet to the floorboards.

The figure seemed to float towards him. The face hidden in the darkness of the hood. The crucifix around the boy's neck then suddenly shone bright as the moon's rays came in through the roof windows.

The hooded figure gave out an unearthly shriek and bolted from the room. It turned back and Fitz could see the eyes.

They were ice blue.

XXX

The sun was rising as Fitz opened his eyes. Was last night a dream? He rubbed his eyes and sat up in the bed. Then got dressed and went down the creaky back stairs to the tavern below.

Captain Kronos was in the bar with the Inn keeper who was mighty upset. The big burly man stormed away in tears.

Kronos turned his head, and looked to Fitz, "Boy...the Vampire has struck again...the Inn Keepers daughter"

Fitz followed Kronos into the back room to see the dried up corpse of a girl on the couch, "the life has been drained from her like before"

Fitz looked up from the husk to the Captain, "It is her...it is La-Freda"

Captain Kronos tilted his head, he seemed to know what he was going to say, "La-Freda", he repeated back.

Fitz nodded as he scratched his head, "yes...there is something about her...I think I dreamed about her..at least I thought it was a dream"

Kronos stepped forward, "your senses are highly tuned...it's all apart of your make-up"

Fitz frowned at him.

"it doesn't matter...lets go and confront the girl"

XXX

La-Freda found the accusation laughable, "Me? How can you think that I could do that to a girl..."

They were outside on the cobbled street, La-Freda had just come back from the forest. There was soon a gathering around her.

"It's you...you are the tainted one", said Fitz.

La-Freda looked at him, "You accuse me...you say that I am the one...", she looked at Kronos, "...but YOU know who he is, don't you? You know who he is the seed of"

Fitz gave her a questioning look and then looked at the Captain, "What does she mean?"

La-Freda laughed, "YOU are the son of the devil himself...and HE knows it", she gritted, pointing at Kronos.

Before Fitz could ask more, Kronos held up the brass cross he was holding and stuck it flat across the girls forehead.

La-Freda screamed out in pain...the whole village gasped in horror as the young girl seemed to age a life time before their very eyes.

A withered died up old husk that collapsed to her brittle bone knees and broke in two.

A gale suddenly picked up and howled around them making the forests sway and bend all around the village, as if an unwelcome darkness had been finally lifted.

Captain Kronos looked towards the man who had first greeted them into the village, "Our work here is done..."

XXX

As the morning turned to afternoon, they had left the village behind and were on their horses trotting through the forests. Fitz still wanted to know what Captain Kronos was hiding, but the older man said it wasn't the right time to talk about it.

Talk about what?

As they came to a clearing, they both sighted a caravan of gypsies parked in the shade. Captain Kronos swotted a horsefly that was buzzing too close to him, in the shimmering heat. Fitz turned to him, "It's the gypsy circus"

"Your clan?"

Fitz dismounted his horse, "No...I do not recognise them...I should take a closer look"

Kronos jumped off his horse and grabbed the boys arm, "No! Can't you see what they have?"

Fitz could see a group of gypsies around a fire and they all looked like they had crusted warts all over their filthy faces.

"They have the plague, boy"

Fitz backed away.

"Yes...I can smell the stench of death"

This was not what Kronos had meant by 'look what they have got'. It was the warts and the boils...

"I smell nothing..."

Fitz knew what was coming because he had heard a lot of it from him.

"It's my highly attuned senses, I trust"

One of the gypsies looked up and spotted Fitz. He stood up with his braces hanging to his knees. His chest covered in red boils of the Great Eastern Plague that was now hitting these remote parts.

Fitz backed away and then heard the chimes in the late afternoon breeze. he turned around and saw movement in the trees. Captain Kronos tried to see the source of the boy's stance.

"What is it"

"A presence...watching me"

Kronos couldn't see the wood through the trees, "I see nothing"

Fitz pointed, "no...look"

Kronos looked up and followed the boys finger to the shape in the wood, a figure in a brown cloak, but it was unlike the one La-Freda wore. There were other shapes in the woods too.

"Who are they?"

Fitz shook his head, "I don't know...but I sensed them before...I think it was them who called for me to fall into the river before you rescued me"

Kronos turned his attentions back to the wonderful colorful caravans across the way, "maybe they have something to do with them"

"THE BOY IS CURSED!"

The woman was coming forward to them like the incense that gathered in the air.

Fitz felt like his heart was going to beat right out of his chest. At first he was almost rooted to the spot, then instinct told him to run. He backed away and ran through the bracken. All was a blur around him. He could hear Krono's voice in the distance, "COME BACK!"

Fitz tripped and fell face down into the dirt. He was winded and as he lifted his head, a gypsy man dressed in traditional wears loomed over him with a gold dagger encrusted with precious stones. The gypsy was ridden with the plague.

"WE HAVE BEEN WARNED ABOUT YOU...THE WOMEN OF THE RED GYPSY FLAME HAVE TOLD US"

And he raised the dagger into the air that caught the rays of the sun. Fitz closed his eyes tight.

And there was a howling of the wolves and as he opened his eyes, the wolves had gathered around him...like some how they were standing guard over him.

The gypsy who would kill him widened his eyes at the spectacle. He shook his head in sheer disbelief as the wolves sat and looked at him.

He pointed his finger, "YOU ARE CURSED...ONLY THE DEVILS OWN HAS THE PROTECTION OF SUCH UNHOLY BEASTS!"

Fitz looked at the wolf nearest to him. The beast looked back at him, his eyes seeming to smile at him.

Fitz sat up and looked at the gypsy man.

And a voice came to the boys mind...a voice so distant it was as if it was crossing time itself...a voice dark, alluring, threatening...

_"they are with YOU...all you need to do...is give the command"_

Fitz blinked and swallowed down and stood up. The wolves all turned and looked up at him...like they were waiting guidance from him.

Fitz understood.

He looked at the gyspy man who would harm him and spoke a command.

"DO IT...DO IT NOW"

And the wolves all leapt forward and jumped up splaying their sharp claws, to tear and shred the gyspy from limb to limb.


	20. The Conflicted Soul - Part 6

Fitz was in daze. He could hear the wolves quite clearly tearing apart those who would do him harm. He opened his eyes. The sky was red with a ruin looming ominously in the foreground. It was icy cold too. He managed to open his mouth, "what? Where..."

AND THE VOICE THAT REPLIED TO HIM WAS IN HIS CONSCIOUS. IT WAS DARK AND UNSETTLING.

Or it should have been. It calmed him as well,"You are protected from seeing such sights"

Fitz turned in a circle. He felt that this unnatural land was sapping the life force from within him.

"Who are you? Why am I here...I ask you again...WHERE?"

Fitz waited for a response, but another voice evaded his head. This one was female. Wise.

"Open your eyes boy...it is he whom you fear most that will be your salvation"

It was only now that Fitz realised that he had his eyes tightly closed. He forced them open and saw the carnage. The wolves looking up at him with blood stained jaws. The gypsy man who threatened to do him harm lying ravaged to pieces. Eyes wide in lifeless horror.

"I did this", he whispered, almost horrified of what had happened. Then he noticed the ring of women in dark robes around him. Captain Kronos was standing with the old hag.  
"You are an abomination...you must be destroyed", told the old hag.

Captain Kronos nodded, "I have always known there was something unnatural about him"

The hag of the red gypsy flame pointed her wizened finger, "he has no place in this world...he should not exist to taint this time"

Captain Kronos looked at him with eyes that bore the resemblance to understanding hatred, "yes...your very existence endangers all of us...even the whole world"

Fitz stood close to the blood thirsty wolves, "what are you talking about...?", he looked towards the red gypsy hag, "...and you, my people used to talk about you...why do you will me harm?"

The leader of the red gypsy flame was almost outraged by the boys words, "they are no people of yours boy"

Fitz didn't know how to respond to that. He backed away and the wolves parted for him to let him pass. Captain Kronos stepped forward, "they speak the truth boy...I have always known that there was something not quite right about you"

1885

Sister Agatha was concerned as Sister Mary paused in her story telling. She could only hazard a guess that this point.

"Did Kronos turn on him?

Sister Mary was shaking her head, "this is where my dream keeps changing. One dream he is seen burning alive on a stake, that like a witch"

"As like burning in hells fire?"

The older nuns eyes were glazed over, "the boy has ripped a tear through time"

"HIS FATHER SURELY?", Agatha corrected, "it was him who spirited him away to the past"

Sister Mary reached out and cupped her cheek with fingers that looked as old as time itself, "I can only tell you what I know now...it is you who will find the true ending...and that is the end of my dream and what I know"

1863

Fitz ran for his life. Even captain Kronos had turned against him. The low Sun was lost behind the mountain, as he smashed into a pine tree and fell to his knees. The wolves followed him at a safe distance.  
He stood up and heard the sound of galloping hooves and a sword being drawn. He had no choice but to run.

LONDON 2020

Dracula climbed the high wall and saw into the old churchyard. There they were. The coven of gypsy witches that bore the symbol of the gypsy flame. They were chanting something.

"Sacred fire...Sacred flame...Sacred fire...Sacred flame..."

Dracula looked at the harpies with contempt his eye's dark and cold. These witches needed to be destroyed. The poison his son faced was tied to these miserable females.  
He broke into a charming smile and leapt to the ground in front of them, incense wafted the air.

They were immediately silenced from the sacred chant and looked at him. Dracula rested his hand to his chest, "oh I must apologise for the uninvited interruption, but I came here to return you your friend...we met on the tube you know"

And with that said, and the horrified looks on the covens faces, Dracula threw down the severed head if the girl on the tube.  
The grisly remains rolled and stared up at the sky, eyes wide in horror. The lower part of the face almost skeletal where something had tore the skin right away.  
Dracula smirked, "that wasn't my doing, that was the train she didn't see coming"

The leader of the group stepped forward and raised a silver cross, "stay back..."

Dracula tilted his head, "but why must I? I was looking forward into joining you in the singalong...Sacred flames was it?"

The leader stood firm and defiant, "don't be fooled by his idle charm...he'll break your neck if you give him chance"

Dracula laughed, "Oh come now, what's with all the bad vibes...am I really that much of a bad date?"

The leader pulled back her flame red hair and wrinkled her freckled nose. He stepped forward one stride and she raised the cross.

"The cross is irritating me now girl..."

"It's meant to"

Dracula suddenly leapt forward and snatched it out of her tight grasp. The cross scolded his skin, but he tossed it aside like a piece of litter, "you will have to try harder than that, ladies"

The leader backed away. The clan of witches stuck together closely. Dracula couldn't smell a whiff fear from them.

"What do you want?, she asked, Dracula licked his lips. Eyes dark, but seemingly friendly for the time being,"Your son?"

"I am a vampire of many powers, I have the power to spirit him away to the past...but I do not have the ability to look to the past...but I know your coven has...information that has been passed down over the decades"

The leader was almost amused, "the red gypsy flame cherished the day your son was..."  
"Was what?", cut in Dracula a little more venomous than intended.

"Yes...we have come far from our homelands to finally destroy you and what you stand for...but your only weakness is your son...The gypsy boy that lived out of the realms of time itself...or so the scriptures told us"

Dracula swallowed down, "what happened to him? Tell me!"

The witch was amused no longer fearing the dark soul of the immortal. She stood tall, "I will tell you what the scriptures say...it will be a pleasure to see your face dark one.

1863

Fitz was still running. Even captain Kronos was after him now. The legendary and fearless vampire Hunter had set his sights on him. It was finally dawning on him that he really was an oddity. He wasn't just charmed a life, his life was being mapped out in some unfathomable way.

He was an abomination. He had no place in this world, that's what the hag gypsy witch said.

And then there was that unnerving voice. The one that evaded his mind. Deep dark unsettling. But he knew the voice and that fact terrified him the most. It was him. Count Dracula.

But why was he protecting him? What did he want with him? He had killed him before. But against all the odds, Fitz somehow managed to resurrect himself.

Fitz came to the mountain river. He hated the water, how was he going to be across?  
"You can not cross it boy? There is nowhere else for you to run to"

Fitz swung around to see captain Kronos come crashing out the trees with his sword poised out.

"Why? Why do you seek harm to me, cried Fitz.

"As they say, you are abomination...dark blood runs through your veins"

Fitz nodded, "it's him...Count Dracula...am I..I mean...what's he to do with me"

Kronos had some sympathy in his stance, "you and him are related boy...you are his..."

Fitz shook his head and backed away to the waters edge, "no...I will not believe it...he killed me remember...he wouldn't of killed his own flesh and blood"

Kronos tilted his head,"yes he would, because he didn't know who you were...but you healing yourself and rising again just prove how much an enigma you are"

Fitz closed his eyes. He didn't want this...He just wanted to be normal. He could the wild river gush. From as long as he could remember he had been afraid of water. Somehow now, he wasn't.  
"My mother and father died...when I was young...this is all lies, I am a gypsy boy", he was now trying desperately to convince himself.  
"And a mere gypsy boy can resurrect himself from the afterlife can he? The old hag has told me...you were brought here from beyond the yonder God knows where...I can only guess at the future, and some how you have ended up here in this time. You being here cannot be...time has been breached and that is no good for any of us"

Fitz closed his eye's and then let himself fall back into the river. Like where all this had begun when he had been rescued by Kronos. But not this time. This time deaths dark arms would let him into it's fold.

Kronos watched him being swept away by the torrid of the mountain current. The red gypsy followers had joined him at the riverside.

"Hes gone...the river will take him now"  
The gypsy hag looked at him, eyes burning like fire, "no...He will seek death in the thing that he's afraid of most...the water...but through that, he will find finally have to accept where he belongs"

Kronos frowned in puzzlement, "how can you know of these things?"

And she only smiled.

1885

Sister Agatha looked at the old nun with her eyes firmly shut. Sister Mary had passed on. The Sun lit her pale face up for a split second through the window, before a cloudy veiled it. Slowly and carefully, Agatha pulled the bed sheet over the elders head and said a prayer.  
Sister Mary had spent her entire life chasing this vile man. A creature that would live on to destroy the world if he was allowed. The truth of the matter is...and it was just mere speculation on her part...that Fitz's whereabouts from the river were now just rumour spread from folklore. He was part human and part vampire. An individual living in a time before his actually birth, put there by his father through protection.

She sighed. The future would reveal all, and now she pictured herself trapped on a sinking boat. Sister Mary insisted she would be the one who would find the truth. Put the pieces to the puzzle together. All she could do was wait.

EPILOGUE

2020

Dracula had torn the flesh away from the coven of gypsy witches. The running, still warm blood from the leading witch, trickling down the gravestone that bore his son's name.  
Fitz was dead. Of course the waters never severed his life. It was the very realisation of who he really was. That and his body ravaged by being out of his time. Dreams tormenting him from a life he should have had. Allowed to of lived.  
The witch told him what the scriptures said. That Fitz somehow made passage to England to discover his birth land.

Dracula looked at the date. 1897. The same day he boarded the Demeter to England, Fitz had taken his own life. Forcing a stake through his own heart. In London, Fitz knew Jonathan Harker. Was there a link? Did Fitz fear Jonathan would really bring him back to England.

Dracula closed his eye's. The Sun was starting to show its first ray's as Zoe looked down at him. She carried an infant in her arms. And she smiled, "you should join us Count Dracula, you don't have to live with your grief. It's we who matter now"

And Dracula, experiencing a tear on his cheek for the first time since he was human so many centuries in the past, looked up to the fresh burning Sun. To the blinding light of his own death.

END


End file.
